A Change in the Winds

A/N: Back after a week I'm on a roll! I hope everyone is staying safe out there! As you can see this chapter is much shorter than most of my chapters b/c I decided that from here on out the chapters will be max 10-13k words. That same promise will not be extended to my one-shots or what have you, but at least for this I can update faster, and we've kind of reached a point where things will be more episodic? Idk if that's the right word, but they'll be more light-hearted with casual interludes with the topside folks.

Also I can't believe I just hit 80 faves! Thank y'all so much my dear readers!

QuiltedRose49: Since the glow came from a transfer of Persy's powers when she revived him, Hades lost his aura once he gave them back. So Hades lost the aura at the end of the things we do for part 2 chapter once he realized he got her life based powers while she got a bit of his fire and why she's able to understand the shades.

Now on with the show!

"Hey little sister, what have you done?"

White Wedding, By Billy Idol

In a snap, the dark throne room of the Underworld rapidly changed to that of the sprawling villa as sunset was occurring, drenching the demigod's home in the colors of the rich dying light. Hercules and Meg felt themselves stumble into each other as the scenery changed before them, but the two of them held onto each other even after the floor beneath them stopped moving.

The two of them could not believe their eyes as they tried to make sense of what just occurred, but the sick feeling in Meg's stomach confirmed they had returned to the mortal plane- their home, in fact. Ugh, she couldn't stand flying and teleporting wasn't a better substitute for her.

"Home," Meg managed to mumble, and leaned into Hercules' chest, relishing in the feeling of having him back home with her in the hopes she could forget her sudden dizziness.

"Wait!" Hercules frantically began to look around the courtyard in search of his winged equine. "Where's Pegasus?"

"Horse feathers can figure out his own way back home, Wonder Boy," Meg tapped his chest as she tried keeping her food down, coaxing him to look down at her. Their sudden return may have been abrupt, but they were together again at last. "Hey, once I," Meg gagged once again, but quickly straightened back up and brushed the floating curl above her forehead. "Don't up-chuck my lunch, I hope you're not forgetting that someone here promised a proper reun-"

"Uh- hello?!" Phil shouted, trotting towards the couple, his arms flailing and eyes wild with confusion at their sudden return. "Quit the goo-goo eyes you two. You were tasked to get Demeter's little girl- now where is she?!" The satyr stomped his cloven hoof in frustrated anticipation.

Meg and Hercules shared an uneasy glance before they turned back to Phil.

Phil watched this interchange between them and felt a sudden disconnect from his student. His shoulders deflated at the lack of trust they seemed to be displaying towards him. "What's with the look? It's a simple question: Ya got her or not? And where's the steed?" The satyr released a frustrated sigh. "Kid, would ya mind telling the world what hero rule number seventy eight is?!"

With his mouth agape, Hercules was the personification of awkwardness as his hands gestured towards his wife before they fell down in defeat, unable to bring himself to utter a word; still completely unabashedly floored from everything that had transpired down below. "Don't forget the steed…" Hercules finally muttered, sounding more like his teenage self than the man he was now.

"And the D-I-D?" Phil's gaze bore into Hercules' forget-me-not blue eyes now that he had his full attention.

"Has lost the I-D part," Meg spoke up. "So no need for Wonder Boy to go chasing his own tail like Cerberus for the rest of the night," she began to tug at Hercules' hand.

"Hey, sister, I don't need your lip right now," the satyr began to bristle with frustration at Meg's sass. "We got a quest from an A-list goddess here, and sunset is going on- RIGHT NOW!" His short, stubby index finger pointed directly at the setting golden sun chariot in the West.

"Phil," Hercules' tone became more stern and yet still had the subtly to remain soft as he turned his attention to his teacher. "Hero rule number twenty-nine, a hero must and always help a person in need, but Persephone, isn't in danger anymore."

Meg felt a dry laugh escape her mouth. "I'd worry more about the guilty party if I were you," she muttered under her breath, but her blunt comment was heard by everyone in attendance.

"You're not helping," Hercules whispered through tightly wound lips in the hopes that his mentor didn't over hear him.

Phil turned to Meg with a bemused expression making his face pronounce his wrinkles more than before as he began to scratch the base of one of his horns. "So ya mean to tell me that- YA LOST HER?!"

Hercules felt a tidal wave of shame break down upon him, but a single supportive look from Meg gave the demigod the strength to explain himself. "Phil it's not like that she's-"

"Hercules, where is she?!"

A loud, booming voice coming from the heavens, reverberated across the villa, sending everyone in the gathering of three to timidly shake at the tremor in the goddess' voice. So loud was Athena's cry that the citizens of Thebes could hear her descent down to the demigod's villa in all her shining glory.

Meg and Phil began to slowly back away, allowing Hercules to be the one to greet her first. They had dealt with gods before, but when a god personally descends from the heavens and beseeches you, they knew when they were not to be dealt with.

"Athena," Hercules felt his knee bend underneath him instinctively as he welcomed his sister. His eyes were downcast as Athena approached him dressed and ready for battle as she always appeared to be, but now seeing her piercing gray eyes flashing there was no doubt in his mind that she was walking into battle. Even the tall spear she held aloft in her right hand was gripped in such a way that she was preparing to thrust the spearhead into any enemy who foolishly stood in her way. Ibid sat solemnly on her shoulder, his gaze a somewhat calming presence to the adopted family, but even with his attendance, Hercules knew that what would take place would not end well.

"I will not repeat my question, Hercules," Athena's voice articulated every syllable between her teeth, finally standing before him.

It was times like this that Hercules wondered how things would have been different if he was a god, but with a single glance behind him, meeting Meg's supportive violet eyes, the hero felt his composure surge back into him.

"She's not here," Hercules responded. His voice did not tremble or shake, but a part of him was surprised at how collected he felt saying it despite the smallest hint of distress that bloomed on Athena's face for saying it.

For a mere second, her anguish was as plain as the nose on his face, but bitter resolve made her stand all the more rigid, and her countenance returned to that stone face he had seen his father wear after their visits were over. He knew nothing about the relationship between Persephone and Athena, but judging by her small yet visible reaction from a goddess who was known for her phlegmatic disposition, she was unabashedly shaken by his news.

"Then pray tell, brother, where is she?!" Athena nearly hissed by the end of her sentence. Her shining eyes nailed him where he stood, preventing him from even moving a muscle. "Where is my sister?!" Her strangled cry ripped out of her throat louder than a battle cry. Anguish dripped from her mouth, but none expected to hear that feeling of guilt welling up inside of her.

Hercules did not know how to respond. Every upstanding moral inside of him screamed to tell her the truth, the whole truth, but another small part of him felt himself hesitate. When he agreed to go rescue Persephone after Hermes had come seeking his help, he did so without a second thought. There was a damsel in distress, and she needed rescuing; everything was lining up for a legendary heroic deed in the making, but he didn't have to. As evidenced to the past five minutes, she was taking care of things.

"Athena, I know you trusted me to go rescue her, but Kore is-"

"-She isn't in the Underworld," Meg's voice shot through like a bolt of lightning, seemingly out of nowhere amid the storming clouds.

Wearing his emotions on his sleeve, Hercules' face began to scrunch in bemusement at Meg's sudden emergence in the discussion and her blatant lie, but as her hand brushed his muscular arm, the hero began to relax. Her violet eyes briefly met his and the blink-and-you'll-miss-it smile on her face was filled with the same reassurance when she watched him rejoin his family on Olympus. He didn't know what his savvy wife was thinking, but he didn't second guess her judgement for a second.

"I saw her fall. I saw her descend into the world below as the earth tore itself open and swallowed her whole," Athena recounted with uncharacteristically glistening eyes. "Hades has her as we speak, and because of the inability of your -"

"No, Athena, she's right," Hercules defended his wife.

The goddess' eyes narrowed and the sharpness of her glare was like that of steel, but said nothing to counter as her eyes swept over Megara.

"But I did speak with her. Briefly," Meg took a cautious step towards her, her hands pressing into her chest the scroll which she had been presented with. "And she wanted me to give you this."

Unlike Hercules, Meg couldn't hide her fear quite as well. All over, the curvy woman began to uncontrollably shake as she extended out the scroll to the imposing figure of the mighty Pallas Athene.

As cautiously as a goddess could, Athena reached down and took hold of the scroll the mortal woman extended out to her. The yellowed papyrus could not hide the earthy musk that emanated from its contents, yes, the smell was one that was usually associated with Kore, but in this instance there was a decaying scent to it that she couldn't dismiss. Yet it was not this detail that disturbed Athena so; it was the dark seal of a familiar skull insignia.

Hades' seal.

With a quick swipe of the spearhead across the seal, the wax was precisely cut in a thin line. Rolling out the scroll, the scent of decay gradually became overpowered by the sickening sweetness of flowers like crocuses and the small rose bushes that grew along the cliffside of Sicily. It practically reeked of her and the bubbly, loopy handwriting of her sister was irreplaceable as Athena stoically looked.

Meg and Hercules felt a huge sigh of relief in that moment of silence, but their reverie soon died as Athena threw the scroll into the air. Her right arm seemed to disappear from sight by how fast she began to move, the only reminder that she was even there was the sound of the air rippling at the way her spear moved, slicing up the scroll into pieces so thin, so small, they looked like threads of a loom as they floated to the ground.

The adopted family could only gape at the goddess' reaction as they looked up in silent horror, their jaws swinging open in shock. Even Phil's, and the satyr still had little context to what Hercules and Meg had seen.

"Why did you do that?!" Meg heard herself shout before she could restrain herself.

"Meg!" Hercules made a grab for her and pulled her away before she did something she might regret.

Athena's eyes bore into her. Were it not for the way Hercules stood in front of his wife, she may not have allowed the mortal a second more on this earth. "You tried to deceive me with your clever word play. Well done, Megara. Yes, Kore is no longer in the Underworld. She was no more the moment she decided to descend to the world below for the very first time. Persephone as you have all decided to call her- a name which I bestowed upon her is here to stay, and stay in the Underworld she shall, but I will no longer fix any of her mistakes." Using the butt of the spear, Athena swept away the thin threads into the wind, allowing them to flow away to who knows where like it never even existed.

"So that's it then?" Hercules asked.

"Oh far from it, Hercules," Athena shook her head disappointedly. "Persephone dug her grave now she will lie in it. Whether the arms of death will let her lie in peace is dubious at best, but she will not escape the consequences from whatever happens. That I know for certain because I will make sure she pays it in full," her gray eyes began to thunder like the sky in the middle of a lightning storm.

Meg felt a cold shiver ripple up her spine. Athena didn't read the letter. "You're just going to forget about her?"

"You mean like she did to me? Absolutely," Athena proclaimed resolutely. With a casual swipe of her finger, the goddess brushed off the lone tear that was threatening to spill out of her eye. "I warned her, I did everything a mentor- a sister," she corrected, "Would, but she is far more stubborn, or perhaps more foolish than I was lead to believe."

Meg held her tongue.

There were parts of her that agreed with Athena. At first glance, Persephone was exactly like how she described her: reckless, naive, foolish maybe, but the way she had composed herself so quickly just now in the throne room. That sudden change she went through after she gave her a dose of encouragement, Persephone became like a lit candle in a dark room when she was reunited with an old friend. She was even able to get her former master to listen to her in a span of a second. Perhaps all that the goddess was truly lacking was the confidence in her own abilities? What woman entering into a foreign environment didn't feel like an imposter? A poser- someone who lacked the necessary skill that put them in this place.

Doubt is a powerful thing and it is not something that can be fought alone. Sometimes all it takes is to believe in the people nobody believes in to give the person the strength to fight their own demons, and judging by how Athena spoke of her, Meg briefly wondered if she was one of the people that contributed to Persephone's lack of self confidence.

"Regardless of what comes of this… situation it will be taken care of by the gods. Do you understand Hercules? Everything you know about all that occurred with Persephone's sudden disappearance," she elongated the word, allowing it to hang in the air like it was what she was labeling this dilemma. "You shall not breathe into the ears of any god. Not even me," Athena proclaimed with a solemn frown.

Hercules clenched his jaw as he knew he was going to break the one rule she gave him. A visit to his father later wouldn't hurt. Athena's threat was viable, but no one could argue with Zeus. Only his mother could do that.

"We shall test Persephone to see if she is truly worthy of such a title that I'm sure she now bares," Athena's eyes were drawn to the empty horizon. Small remnants of the sun still remained like the darkening rose colored clouds that gradually muted into violet and then into the color of rich midnight blue as the night began to take rein of the sky.

"You're hoping this blows up in her face."

"No, I gave her one last chance to reconsider," she reminded the demigod and the quest she sent him on several hours earlier, shifting the conversation away from the bold accusation he had just thrown at her. "But we can all remember she refused her last chance. Hubris is truly a remarkable flaw, isn't it?" her retort was icy, reminding Hercules briefly of the Nordic lands he had traveled to in his youth.

"Yeah… It is," and for once, the demigod didn't know whether he meant it in reference to Athena or the goddess buried deep beneath the earth.

"Good-bye, Hercules, I fear I may see you sooner than you think, but now I am called to war in Athens." In a bright burst of light, Athena was gone, taking with her the last semblance of light, encasing the villa in darkness.

Yet she did not take sound with her as Phil's eyes rapidly turned to Hercules then Meg, and back again.

"So you two kids mind telling me WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE?!"

Upon arrival back to the woods of Enna, Demeter felt something was off in her delicate ecosystem. Settling here over a millennia ago, she specifically chose an area far from the now thriving mortal cities that dotted the coastline. Syracuse, being one of them, had certainly exceeded her expectations, but she had a little comfort in her foresight to choose somewhere where mortals wouldn't interfere since they were so interested in trade. Zeus and the rest of her siblings thought she was crazy not settling in Olympus like the rest of them, but she wanted to be close to her work.

Here she had planted the first few seeds that marked her territory, directed the streams that had now become mighty rivers. It was a side project- a hobby perhaps, nowhere near the work she had ahead of her, fertilizing and tilling the land after the Titanomachy was done; all while she reared her newborn daughter.

She didn't mind the ichor, sweat, and tears that it took her, she loved getting her hands dirty and exploring a fascinating new world after being freed from her father's stomach with nobody piling on top of her. Here she could give her daughter the chance of a life she did not have.

And now that world felt unfamiliar to her.

Demeter's gaze was at first drawn towards her cottage, but there was not one thing disturbed here. It even looked like no one was home. The shutters were closed shut and no oil lamp could be made out from between the boards of wood as she approached the door.

That was an odd detail, Kore always lit the oil lamps when she stayed home alone unless she was out with the nymphs. On warm summer nights she would oftentimes find her daughter slumbering with them underneath the starry skies or swimming in the river making bioluminescent algae that amused the naiads so much.

Or she still had not returned from that wedding she was invited to.

Yes, that was it, Demeter decided with a pleasant smile. The harvest was officially over which meant preparations for Spring would be underway immediately. Oh Kore would be so pleased once she heard her idea of officially giving her the title of goddess of Spring!

They would share the passage of the seasons, and her little sweetheart would not be her assistant anymore. She had shown how ready she was to step up her responsibility, and so, as her mother, she'd find a way to make that happen; whether or not she gained Zeus and the council's approval. This was after all her area of scope, not theirs.

Demeter pleasantly set down her sling filled with sacrificed wheat and wheat-by products, and set off towards the woods as she felt curiosity sit heavy in her bones as to the odd atmosphere emanating all around her.

Maybe the nymphs knew what was up.

Clapping her small hands together, the leaves of the trees Demeter passed under began to glow a soft green, lighting the path in front of her. The well-worn path was soon lit that even a mortal could see anything quite easily.

All around her, the pear shaped goddess could hear the crickets strumming away their symphonies, and the soft rustling of rodents in the undergrowth as they attempted to find small insects which was soon joined by the sudden inclusion of an owl's hooting. This made Demeter pause.

On nights such as these, you could always hear the giggles and shouts filling up the woods for a while. The night was still very young, the nymphs, especially the naiads were up. The dryads followed their day based on sunlight alone and when the sun was down they were out too, but maybe not so soon. It had only been an hour since sunset, so where was the whole gaggle?

With a small frown on her face, Demeter quickened her pace by a hair toward the riverbanks, the forest lighting up all around her as if it were day, already responding to her rising paranoia.

Her eyes searched all around looking for signs of anyone, but she felt her heart rise into her throat as a mortified cry issued out of her. At first glance all she saw was a laurel tree rooted in front of her. A small graceful thing that elegantly curved over the steep embankment.

Demeter had never seen it here before, but once she looked past its thick shiny green leaves, the pear-shaped goddess looked askance at the tiny stream that flowed along a gash in the river bed that continued on for a hundred feet.

Where did the river go?!

Had Bacchus shown up again?

Demeter pursed her lips in annoyance remembering the state of the woods he had left it after he showed up one particularly warm summer some three centuries ago. Both her and Nemesis had been elbows deep in cleaning up the mess, with the vengeful goddess chasing off Bacchus on his poor little donkey while Demeter was left to trick the frenzied maenads into thinking the pumpkin and wheat trail leading out of her woods were actually lions.

Suffice to say the plan worked without any known mortalities.

Known.

The events of that summer were later dubbed the great pumpkin massacre after Demeter had found Kore in the middle of the chaos covered in the gooey entrails and broken carcasses of pumpkins while crows pecked seeds out of her hair, lying in an empty barren field that had once made up a third of the woods. Demeter was none to happy to find her in such a state, but she gave her a pass that one time. It was her first Bacchanal after all.

Her first hadn't gone so accordingly after she woke up the next day naked, covered in mud with the charming mortal, Iolas, she had met a day before. Such a handsome mortal, too bad Zeus became jealous and killed him.

But still, what had caused this? Bacchus would never dare attempt any more destruction on her property. Not even Hermes, a frequent visitor here, for all his light-hearted mischief would do something like this. A small unsettling feeling began to develop in Demeter as she began to sift an idea over in her head.

Had Kore done this? Maybe she was back after all. It was true her powers had started to rapidly change in the past week; almost reminiscent of her more adolescent years, but that was such a long time ago. She hadn't done anything like this.

Peering over the embankment, Demeter couldn't help but notice a little spring that appeared to be where the stream was flowing from. With a scrunch of her nose, the pear-shaped goddess found herself in the river bed, the soft, moist soil sinking underneath her weight as she trudged closer to the spring.

She didn't mind the mud, it was why she always went around barefoot. No one could ever tell with her long chiton, and though Hestia had always warned her about taking care of her feet she just couldn't. Her feet were what told her whether the soil she was working with was any good or not, and feeling the silty soil underfoot was a tad comforting as she lowered herself down, her knees bending underneath her.

Water gushed out of a small little mound in the middle of the river bed, pumping almost like a heartbeat, the way it thumped, pushing the fresh water that was trapped beneath back to the surface. Demeter inclined her ear to the little spring while her hands began to mold its mouth to make a more definite exit. Yet as she did so, Demeter closed her eyes trying to pick up any words the spring could be saying.

For as everyone knows, when nymphs die, they experience a sort of rebirth. Sometimes the death is voluntary when they feel a sickness in their tree or their river is drying out, but in their death they bring new life. In this case, Demeter knew this river was far from drying out, so what did this naiad know before she became a spring?

"Speak, little spring, where is my daughter? Is she with Daphne and the rest in her father's river?"

The goddess listened close, channeling some of her power to give the naiad's soul a voice, but what came from the babbling brook made Demeter's ichor run cold.

"She's gone… "

The arrangement of the leaves in Demeter's hair began to gradually transfigure from a verdant shade of green to a yellowed hue. "Gone?" The goddess was puzzled by the vague response. Why was it always something mysterious? "Gone where?" Demeter pressed in a tight, voice.

"… We're all gone."

Demeter felt herself rise in a huff. She expected answers like this from the Fates; not from reborn nature spirits.

Well, Demeter thought, the night was young, and the wedding Kore would've been attending probably would be going on for a couple more hours. She had said she'd see her later tonight- or something along those lines, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to check if she was still at the wedding. Demeter grimly eyed the state of the once powerful river as a rush of wind began to blow through the woods, sending every branch into a tizzy at the unexpected gust.

Or at least ask around if something had upset her to possibly cause a reaction such as this. After all, how bad could a wedding turn out?

A/N: Don't hate Athena I absolutely love her. I know it's odd seeing gods who are usually portrayed as the "good" gods in a more darker light, but when you have a villain as a deuteragonist, you know that your allies are more on the questionable side. Trust me, I have plans for Athena, and none of them are bad ends. She was my fave greek goddess growing up, so she has a special place with me.

Next chapter probably won't be out for another two weeks, since I'm still in uni- just the online version and I'm pretty sure exams are coming soon.

Oh and a Happy Easter and a Happy late Pesach! Or if you're my old man" Feliz Dia de la Coneja!"

As always please fav, follow, and review!