On the Fields of Asphodel

A/N: I know many of you have been waiting for a chapter concerning these two, so here's a treat! Tbh this was a treat for me too, not a lot of good happening in my life rn, bad environment and all, but at least I'm fleeing to the country for a couple days to escape it all. Next chapter I am really excited about, but who knows when that will be, but for now you can have a nice intermediary. This act will certainly focus more on Hades since I feel I have neglected some of his arc beyond the obvious, so imma try to work on that.

Disclaimer: Chapter 1

"And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we lived for.

But there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair."

- After the Storm, By Mumford and Sons

Hades had absolutely no idea what was happening. Maybe he shouldn't have froze the moment Persephone leaned forward and pressed her lips to his hollow cheek. His long dead heart leaping up into his throat as she removed her sweet lips. It was a harmless, innocent thing binding their deal for all to see, but his insides said otherwise as tiny white flames littered his shoulders without any warning.

He didn't expect that.

Maybe a handshake, a fist bump, shooting awkward finger guns at the other but not that. Never one of her mind-numbing pecks that acted like a sweet poison to his simmering skin. Before he could shake the emotions that were ruminating under his skin, Persephone had grabbed his lifting hand that was about to touch where she kissed him but instead was used to drag him along.

"Ugh, Seph?" Hades found his voice, and his reason a mere second later as he now matched her pace. "The least you can do is wine and dine me first," Hades quipped, but Persephone merely smiled, the quip not exactly landing.

"Oh c'mon, I want to see the fields!" Her excited voice stopping the god from uttering a single protest. Persephone was about to lift her chiton to give her legs some freedom before she realized her other hand was occupied with the burned and decaying bouquet. "Go curse some other bride!" She tossed it behind her and into the River Styx.

"Why do I get the feeling that's going to come up later?" Panic twittered into his brother's ears, his eyes watching the bouquet bobbing up the river, for some reason flowing against the current.

"You really gotta stop worrying, Panic," Pain dismissed his diminutive teal brother. "I mean Persephone cursing someone?"

"Oh alright," Panic exasperatedly sighed, squirming underneath his brother's scrutiny. Though there were instances that proved otherwise: the first time they met her when she launched her scythe at them or when she had nearly offed their boss, but, eh, he didn't have it in him to argue anyway.

"Hey- you sure you wanna walk there, babe?" Hades' hand and arm became like smoke, making Persephone's grip phase through his. "There's at least three rivers between here and there and I'd like to see you try dragging me through 'em." Hades lightly reminded the goddess who was still high-tailing it in the direction that he had grumpily dubbed the scenic route.

Persephone paused mid-stride and flashed the god a teasing smirk as she turned to face him. "Fine, but only because I'm done jumping in rivers today."

Hades returned her smirk with a lop-sided grin. "Hey, believe you me, nobody wants to swim in a crowded pool. Not exactly a cheery bunch, or so I'm told," he extended out his arm to her.

Persephone quickly took it. Holding onto him, standing by him feeling his strong forearms, Persephone tried to bury the blush, really, really tried, but her insides were mush. If she felt numb back on the boat she felt every single one of her senses working on overdrive. She couldn't tell if the heat she felt was because she was close to Hades or if it was her own aura warming her, but there was an intense wave of heat just surrounding her.

She felt alive, but at the same time, the very same feeling made the butterflies in her stomach unconsolable. Her and Hades were signed, sealed, and legally binding, but she still felt like the same person.

Was it reckless? That would reveal in time, wouldn't it? If anything she was just more dazed about the whole situation. Was she regretting it now? No, she answered herself quickly. Her eyes fixating on Hades with a small little smirk teasing at her lips as she tugged him along. He was oddly fun to tease when he was tense, and he radiated it like light off a candle right now.

Not that she wasn't feeling the same way, but there was something soothing about knowing that the being she felt incredibly awkward around at the moment was in the same situation only vice versa.

It had been two minutes into her marriage and she was already thinking about the potential problems that would rise from this. Not could, but would.

Her mother for one, but she had explained it in the letter she had sent with Meg. Hopefully, Athena would get it and tell her mother. She didn't want them thinking she was in Rome, or being held hostage or something. All she had stated was that she decided the people who really needed her the most were the dead, and also of her intentions to try and bring some well-needed reorganization on the way the shades were sorted, or at least do something with all of them clogging up the rivers. Whatever fallout came when they realized she had gotten married, well, she could focus on that later, and hey, if her mother or Athena started spouting their judgments, she could hide down here longer.

Persephone was drawn out of her thoughts as the world around here began to ripple and change. Smoke began encircling her and Hades, and quickly disappeared only to change the landscape from the dark bleak dock to that of the meadow she found herself in.

"Oh."

Her eyes went wide at the sight that greeted her as a small gasp managed to escape from her. The small sprouts she had accidentally created had not just grown, but thrived and expanded in such a way that the once flat plain was converted into a vast meadow that extended farther than her godly eyes could see. White flowers that appeared gray and even violet in the sparse lighting covered every inch of the meadow, the only plant that seemed to grow.

"I gotta ask was that an appreciative Oh? Or a dazed and confused one?" Hades pondered out loud as Persephone unlatched her arm from his.

"Haven't decided yet," Persephone walked forward entranced by the sight and crouched down to see the flowers for herself. It was almost hard to walk through the thick clumps of long-bladed leaves from where a single stalk sprang the flowering stem. From a distance they almost appeared like a giant thistle upon those tall reed-like stems, but in reality those thistles were just thin petalled buds that had long stamen which extended out from the center of the flower. An even thinner maroon stripe was the only color attributed to the bloom, extending from point to point on each individual petal.

Leaving the flower, be, Persephone reached her hand down into the soil and pulled away in mild disgust at the poor quality of the soil. She could feel it in her hands whether or not a soil was good, and it made her all the more confused that somehow the flowers had done the impossible and made a home in this otherwise inhospitable place.

"I can tell you one thing," Persephone rose to her full height, dusting off her hands and flinging the particles of dirt back from whence they came. "Half the reason these guys are alive- rather than the obvious," she shot a poignant look at Hades as he was already taking a breath to voice his suggestion. "Is just to spite me."

Hades didn't know whether the reason he was laughing was because the very concept was absurd to him, or the idea that the asphodels had an actual vendetta against Persephone for giving them life in such a place. "Never took flowers to be the bitter sort, but given their personal feud with me every flaming Spring, I see it."

"They're the best at it," Persephone grumbled, crossing her arms the way a mother would when she found her children in a compromising situation. "They can bloom and shine in the sunlight, pretending everything's hunky-dory," her hand lightly touched one such bloom, allowing herself to feel its softness before she rose to her full height. "That's why you never see bitterness in fruit until you taste it."

There was an odd pause that ensued as Persephone said those words. It was slightly unsettling how quiet it was here, not that Hades minded, he was used to silence, but he did not want it right now. "Ever bothered figurin' out why?"

Persephone pondered his words with a perplexed look on her face but her features began to soften as she regarded the intrigued expression Hades wore. "Well from my observations either the soil is too alkaline- too basic- sorry, corrosive," she reiterated in a less scientific way after noticing the bemused expression that Hades had on.

"See now I get that colloquialism."

"Or you could smother the fruit tree with too much water or even too much sunlight. Though I doubt that'll be any problem for them down here," Persephone noted with a dry laugh. "Oh and the easiest to prevent," Her magenta eyes lighting up as she remembered another. "Harvesting the fruit immediately. You can't leave them on the vine; it just ruins the taste. I mean fruit can still ripen even after they're plucked."

"Ya learn something new everyday."

"I can stop rambling if you want," Persephone deadpanned.

Hades' skin rippled orange before it returned to its normal grey blue."What?! No-no-no, sweetness, I could hear ya talk all day."

Oi that sounded desperate.

Persephone made her way towards the rambling god and took his erratic hands into her own. "So could I," she said with a soft smile. Yet her dreamy expression snapped to one of worry, "Wait, no I meant hearing you talk, not me talking all day- not even the flowers can deal with that."

"Hey, don't make me jealous of the flowers now."

Persephone felt the rising heat in her as a laugh bubbled out. That familiar feeling of warmth she felt around him began to seep all throughout her, even into her toes. "Hm, I guess you could make a nice substitute," she teased, releasing her hold on his hands.

Hades felt his mouth hanging open like a dead fish and snapped it shut at her rather alluring tease. "Gotta warn ya, though unlike your shrinking violets I add some rather colorful commentary to the mix."

"No, really?" Persephone innocently smiled, showing off her rather sharp incisors.

Hades had to say out of all the changes she had gone through from her sultry lilac tone or her glowing hair; that small feature was his favorite. It almost acted like a warning to those who didn't know her. She was sweet it was true, he didn't call her sweetness for nothing, but should someone take advantage of that kindness and mistake it for weakness she would reveal the fiery goddess underneath it all.

"And here I thought you were nice."

"Hey, trust me you don't want nice," Hades' sharply bit out the word like it was the most diabolical thing, and to him it most certainly was. "Nice is the word ya call people when ya don't got much to say about 'em."

"Then I wouldn't call you pleasant either," Persephone snorted, absentmindedly brushing her fingers along the top of his shoulder.

"You're gonna see firsthand if ya really wanna help run this joint."

"I thought that was pretty obvious after marrying you," Persephone cocked her eyebrow in a knowing manner. She knew full well about how hard he could be, maybe not firsthand, but seeing how the whole kingdom fell apart with his absence. In those two months it certainly proved that him being gone was felt the most by his underlings who required the heavy hand to drive them to do their jobs properly. Hell, it was why she found herself wandering down here in the first place.

"Ya sure it wasn't for my flaming good looks?"

"It certainly helped," Persephone muttered, earning a surprised, crooked smirk that began to flourish on the god's face.

This was the first ever admittance from Persephone, or any female for that matter, on finding his looks attractive. Though, he exuded the confidence that he believed every bit of it, there was something especially thrilling hearing it from her. He would never live that down. "Heh, really?" Hades pressed with one of his signature devilish grins.

Persephone felt herself shrink as a blush threatened to bloom. "Don't get smug about it, you're still a schmuck," the goddess seethed, irritably crossing her arms.

"And you're a feisty minx, who raises hell on a whim."

"You want me to?" Persephone lilted, subtly tracing the prongs of the spiked diadem atop her hair.

"As tempting as that would be," Hades quipped. "I think I'll pass."

"Good answer," Persephone quietly exclaimed, once again reaching for his hand and tugged him along with her. "Y'know Melinoe, the, uh…"

"Miss doom and gloom and the ghoul squad? I've already had the displeasure."

Persephone giggled. "I guess you have. Well, she was telling me you weren't too big of a fan of the changes, or what they're calling this area."

The fields of asphodel. So that's what they were calling the flowers that bunched together like a thistle. It reminded her of daffodils for some reason she couldn't quite figure out.*

Hades couldn't help but roll his eyes. This had to be the largest region in the Underworld. Plain, flat lands that had absolutely nothing, and it just began to sprout the one thing he hated most. "Can ya blame me? Flowers aren't exactly part of my working image."

The goddess felt a snort escape her mouth, eyeing the rose she had fixed behind his skull pin. "Well, guess what, Sparky? You're in just as deep as I am with the whole being dead thing, or whatever."

Hades blinked at the use of her nickname for him. He had almost missed its presence, only for it to be so casually rolled off her tongue. "Hey, I'm just saying ya took a perfect undeveloped chunk of land I could'a developed and made it into a botanist's paradise."

"You weren't doing much with it before. Maybe we can re-purpose it, I mean look," she extended out her free arm, pointing out a small cluster of shades that had wandered close to them. "They seem to like it here."

"They're loitering, that's what they're doing."

"If they liked the river, they would stay there," Persephone interjected. "It's why the second you were gone, they went back to earth- y'know the place they were dying to leave."

Hades shook his head in amusement. "Not bad for someone who's still green, but we can't put 'em all here, babe. Even if they don't got elbows to rub it'll still be S-R-O."

"Then, we leave the shades here until I figure out what to do with them," Persephone firmly stated. "Melinoe's already doing it, so we'll let it continue."

Hades' brow crinkled as a question began to burn inside. "Why so keen on getting the Styx cleaned?"

"… You," Persephone admitted. Her thoughts returning to that doomed soul who had climbed aboard Charon's ferry.

"Me?" Hades snorted. "Never thought I'd be the subject for your imagination."

"Hey, it's like you said," she shrugged. "Everybody down here wants peace, and when you're caught in a swirling river for eternity there's no room to give them that, or do I have to remind you," Persephone nudged the god with her hip, a wicked glint lighting up her eyes.

Hades' arm floated above her shoulder, silently debating whether or not it was a good idea to pull her in against him. Persephone was being rather flirty, but he subtly wondered if she was using it to her advantage to get him to agree to something. She was not above using such tricks, but maybe he was mixing up her vivaciousness for her friendly nature. "Using my words against me, what is the underworld comin' to?"

Persephone felt a snort rise out of her. "Well it is under new management."

Hm, alright that was what was bothering him, when you bring someone in they're known to be bright with lots of ideas just like he had when he first arrived eons ago. Erebus had created some sort of order, but not much to deal the thousands that streamed in daily these days. There wasn't a lot of people back in the Golden Age, back when Kronos or some titanic asshole created man but didn't make woman. Hence the lack of continuity there. So it was up to him to build from the ground up in the subsequent ages of silver and bronze when they finally added women in the picture. Who knew Zeus could be so progressive? Not! The yutz just needed more skirts to chase.

"Yeah, speaking of which when mister-rain-on-my-parade finally decides to send the Elysian deed to you, you can get yourself oriented with the guys who've been running it in the morning."

Persephone's form slightly deflated. "I thought I'd get to work with you for a bit."

Any previous suspicions Hades had about Persephone dissipated like Penelope's suitors when Odysseus revealed himself. "Wait-wait-wait, really?"

Persephone eyed Hades wearily. "Yeah, I wouldn't know what I'm doing," she laughed in spite of the situation. "Half the time I was here I was chasing dead people, and pulling gods out of rivers of fire."

"Y'know that last bit sounds like a worthy cause."

Persephone giggled behind her rough hands as she tried to suppress her laughter. "But I'm serious, Hades. I want to learn, I've shadowed people all my life, one more wouldn't hurt."

"Hey, look, I can teach ya the real stuff: management, statistics, PR, contracts of Faustian origin, but how you run Elysium is ultimately up to you. Comprende?"

Persephone's eyes sharply shifted from the fields to Hades' gaze. "Deal, but," she sharply bit out. "With me getting the Elysian Fields, I have the right to say what merits entrance, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't see why-"

"Look, I get that there's a system in place for sending souls where they belong, but maybe those laws need to be updated and to re-evaluated. And yeah," she slightly rolled her eyes thinking back to Meg's words. "I know what re-evaluating means, but you can't tell me qualifications for Elysium aren't slightly skewed thanks to nepotism."

Hades felt himself shift his jaw as he considered her plea, his flames slightly rippling a bright orange at first thought, but her eyes made him calm down instantly. Even without her sweet face, he knew she had a point. But the work required to reorganize everything? Would she even be up to it? He was fine, he handled wars, famines, plagues like nobody's business, but he didn't know how committed she was to this.

In the week he had known her she was unpredictable, jumping at the slightest chance to help for the sake of fulfilling some innate inhibition. Maybe having a stable job would make her settle after a few weeks, but life always had a funny way of rebelling when it was put in one place for too long. It was its nature, she had proved it several times over, and this place was the opposite of that. Here everything was stable, unchanging, monotonous even. One of the reasons he hates the Underworld!

Yet as Hades looked back to that willowy goddess with hair like rays of sunlight, there was no denying the fiery determination in her eyes. This was not the same little goddess that had fished him out of the Phlegethon with her wide innocent eyes who could barely stand on her own. One look at her told him if she did not get his approval she was going to do it anyway. If she messed up, she'd learn, she studied things carefully; it was the perfectionist in her. When problems arose, she'd find the source and weed it out and try again.

It's why he surprised her when he simply nodded. Hades felt himself steaming at the work that would set him back a good while, but he was not a god to go back on his word, especially to the goddess he now called wife. Even if it was more of a I scratch your back you scratch mine kind of shtick, he was going to give her room to work, and hey she might make things a little lively down here. It was going to be an eventful Spring after all. "You're right."

Persephone's face looked askance at his sudden approval, but hid it behind a weary grin. "You bet your flaming flames I am, Sparky."

"Hey, they're your people too now, so we're both gonna have to compromise, and there's currently a lot of souls that need to be put back into the system after a little incident you might have heard about that happened- Oh…" Hades dramatically paused. "A week ago."

"Really?" The goddess snidely quipped.

"Yeah, what a coincidence, right? But it means you can step in and see to that process. First thing tomorrow, I'll take you to the Underworld courts and there you can work your magic with the three stooges to implement your new guidelines and go from there."

Persephone flashed the god a pleased smile. "Y'know, part of my reorganization plan requires that we purge the souls from the river, right?"

"Look, Seph, let me explain something to ya. The souls currently in the river are the folks who didn't qualify for Elysium," he gestured towards her, "or Tartarus," he jerked his thumb at himself. "They're the kind of dolts you describe as just nice when you can't come up with anything about 'em. Poor yutzes who let others decide their own fates."

"I know, but like I said, no one deserves that Fate," her magenta eyes became sincere as her voice lowered in a small hushed whisper.

Hades felt something soothing in those words. Considering the context of the conversation it sounded like she wasn't just implying the shades. There was something else, and that something else was read loud and clear by our resident dread lord of the dead. Though she had teased throwing him in the river as a sort of tongue-in-cheek dog house metaphor, it was here and now that she said loud and clear that she would never ever throw him back. It was a promise.

"Y'know I can live with that."

Persephone's eyes became crinkled as her face was set in a mirthful look. Yet there was something expectant there, lingering in the way she shifted her weight between her heel and the ball of her feet. "So what am I to you right now?"

"What do you need me to be?"

Persephone paused at his answer, her gaze becoming suddenly thoughtful before she turned to look at the expansive meadow of asphodels. "I lost my best friend today, surprisingly not because of you. And I'd like to be friends with you; whether this works out or not."

"Don't worry I got the patience," Hades' voice was surprisingly soft. "So what am I to you then, Persephone?"

Persephone pushed against the rising heat in her cheeks as she looked him dead on. "You're my friend. A grumpy, grating, flaming boneheaded one, but underneath that a nice friend."

"Aw, Seph don't do that to me," Hades irritably grumbled. "Don't call me nice."

"I can't hear you," Persephone lilted as she lifted her skirts and took off running.

"Hey, I chased you once!" But Hades' words were soon drowned out as a cracking sound was heard running along the ceiling of the Underworld. "I'll do it-"

Persephone stopped her feet as she too heard the noise and noticed a shaft of light opening up between the stalagmites. A scroll began to fall from that small opening before it closed once more, and lifting her hands up high the goddess caught it. "What's this?"

Hades' stopped mid-sentence as his round eyes went wide in fear. A shout began to emit from his mouth, but the sound was quickly muffled by the thousands of pounds of flopping fish that fell on top of him.

"Hades, look, it's the deed!" Persephone excitedly gazed upon the deed to Elysium, but quickly tore her gaze away when she heard no response from him. Where'd all this fish come from anyway? "Hades?" Had she run that fast?

Far off in the distance, Panic passed Pain a drachma. The two of them had been spying on the couple ever since they spirited away to the fields, but made sure to be far away enough that their boss couldn't spot them. Each armed with a pair of binoculars, the two had snickered to themselves the entire night away, but Panic felt his laughter stifle as a mountain of fish descended down onto Hades.

"I told ya Poseidon would cater," Pain evilly grinned.

"Humph!" Panic loudly groaned, but he quickly got over his bad luck as he suddenly became animated at the prospect of a new bet arising. "So best six-hundred sixty-five outta thirteen hundred thirty-one?"

"You're on!"

*ἀσφόδελος the original word for asphodel that roughly translates to daffodil. Idk, man, I'm studying Italian, not Greek. But do with that information what you will.

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