Author's note: So sorry about the former paragraph messup, and thank you
for the lovely reviews! This only took so long because of that bloody
thing called homework. I'm not putting in the part when Demeter goes to
that village and puts the baby in the fire to make him immortal because I
am trying to focus on this myth for the moment. And I know that all of
this took place, like, a lot longer than I'm saying it is, but it's just
another part of my version. Oh, and I forgot to put in the disclaimer, so
I'll stick it in here until I fix the first chapter.
Disclaimer: I neither own nor created any of these gods or goddesses, and the tale of Persephone's kidnap is not my own, I am just tweaking it to my own likes.
It was dark. The only light came from iridescent jewels and fungi that were embedded in the ceiling. A solitary building filled the crevice of a corner in the cavern's walls. The architecture was simple, yet grand and made to impress. The stone looked as though it was made of the same material as the walls around it, and you could only actually see the building if the lights were on inside because of the camouflage. Every window was glowing with soft lamplight now, but even that looked cold and unwelcoming in this dreary place.
A servant came from what looked like stables on the side of the house. Evie looked into his eyes for any sign of life, but there was none. He was like a zombie, walking slowly and quietly, his footsteps not making any sound. When he reached the chariot, Hades silently handed him the reins of the screeching creatures, and with the chariot still attached, the man silently guided them back to be put away.
At first Hades seemed to be ignoring Evie, and then she realized that he didn't know what to do next. He tried not to make eye contact with her, and yet stood by as if waiting for something to happen.
After a short while of uncomfortable silence, Evie said, "Nice place you have down here. Not very lively." She meant it as a joke, but Hades wasn't laughing.
However, she did surprise him. Or something like that. Maybe she just woke him up from his previous confusion, because he gently touched her arm and said, "Come. I'll show you around inside."
Gray granite doors moved open silently as the couple passed through. The floor was made of granite also, and gleamed from the light of the torches that lined the walls. A glittering chandelier of thousands of different gems hung from the ceiling. Evie smiled at the sparkling decoration, but that was all that adorned the forum. Instead of a wall in the back there were pillars, tall, dark and straight. Behind that was the courtyard, which instead of flowers held more of the magnificent gems and fungi, along with more torches.
Hades led her down the hallway to the left, which looked no different than the forum. He held out his left hand, gesturing to an open doorway and said simply, "Here is the dining room." They stopped so that Evie could get a good look.
This room held pillows and drapes made of the finest fabrics. The walls were covered in majestic purple curtains, and in the middle of the room sat two comfortable looking couches surrounded by multitudes of dark green, deep blue, and black colored pillows. One table used to hold the food stood in the back. An intricate silver lantern hung by the ceiling and gave off a light that seemed more real than the flickering torchlight had been. The room was a bit small, but it was only used for eating after all.
As the tour progressed, Evie saw the bathroom (plumbing wasn't invented yet, but other than that it was nice overall), the kitchen (which Hades said she wouldn't come in a lot anyway, the servants would take care of preparation), and the throne room, which was the largest room in the house. A glittering mosaic of jewels for the floor made an impressive statement, and the throne itself was solid gold and covered in expensive silks and satins. Evie knew that Hades was known as the god of wealth, and this proved the statement to her.
Finally, Hades brought her to the bedroom. Like the dining room, fabrics covered the walls in dark, sensual shades of red. The bed was the main focal point, in the middle of the room. It was low, huge, and surrounded by a canopy of crimson sheer curtains. There were a lot of pillows here as well. No windows were on the walls, and the lighting was from oil lamps set here and there. No jewels showed their glittery faces here. There was a table with a stool covered in red fabric, but that was the only other furniture.
This was the part Evie had been dreading. She was a virgin, and wasn't really looking forward to having a wedding night with a man she had known for about an hour now, god or not. She became very nervous, and tried not to look at Hades as she said, "Your house is very beautiful. I like it a lot."
"It is your home now. Feel free to go where you wish in it, though I do advise you not to go wandering around outside. There are... disturbing things which you might not want to come in contact with," Hades said. It seemed as though he became relieved whenever Evie said something, as if he were expecting her to hate the whole thing. Evie couldn't blame him. After all, all he knew about her was that she was a beautiful girl and the daughter of Demeter. He was just waiting for her to burst into tears.
Evie did have many questions, and now that Hades was replying to them she didn't feel as nervous any longer. "Can you hear them, the dead guys I mean?"
"Here you cannot. These walls were built to block all of that, and the house itself is not located next to the dead. Have no fear of coming into contact of any kind with them. That is my duty, to judge the dead and keep them where they are supposed to be."
Now she looked at him, and saw an expression of profound loneliness on his face, especially in his brown eyes. She studied his features for a short while. He had short brown hair, neatly trimmed, was clean-shaven, and had smooth, tanned skin. Evie liked him. Not because of his looks, or his wealth, or the pleasurable feelings he gave her when he looked her way or spoke, but because she felt that she was the only one that could ever chase that lonely look from his eyes. That gave her a feeling of purpose, though what she had to do to accomplish that goal was still making her nervous at the moment.
But, thankfully, Hades began to talk again. "I will be gone most days, so you will have the entire house to yourself. If you need a servant to help you with something, just go to the kitchens, there's usually someone there. I need to go get some work done, so... you can do what you like."
With that little speech, he left Evie standing alone in the room. She was relived, and at the same time annoyed that she had to find something to pass the day away on her own. In fact, she had lost all track of time in this dreary place. She did not feel tired, or hungry, but not satisfied knowing that it could very well be midnight on the earth. That she would have to change.
As Hades walked out of the palace, he mused to himself, as he had done so many times this day, about his new bride. Before he left in his chariot, he was not looking forward to how the young girl would react to the ambush. He was absolutely sure that she would cry, and say that she hated him and this place, and demand to see her mother.
From watching her childhood, he knew that was just what she would have done. But then there was those ten years that she was nowhere to be found. Nobody knew what had happened, but then again they didn't dare ask the overprotective mother of her whereabouts.
But whatever had happened to her, Hades liked the change very much. He was still doubtful that she could ever love him the way she did in his daydreams, but there was more hope of that now that he had witnessed her behavior for himself. So he was a little hopeful, for the moment.
But for now he had to clear his head of thoughts. There were souls to judge, and he needed full concentration for the job.
The biggest problem Evie had with the house was the lack of noise. The servants looked human enough, but every time she tried to talk to them it was either "Yes mistress," or "I don't know mistress," or "What would you like, mistress?" She soon tired of talking to any of them and retreated to the bedroom. There she sang to herself, and came up with new melodies, until she finally became bored with that. Then the thought hit her.
(I'm a goddess, right? So, I should have goddess powers. But how the hell am I supposed to use them?)
She tried silently wishing for an apple and waved her hand. Nothing happened, so she did the same thing in a more elaborate manner. She also tried saying all the magic words she had learned as a child, such as "Abracadabra," and "Hocus Pocus," but that didn't work, either.
The next thing she tried was something she had read in a fantasy book once. She tried to picture the apple in her mind, making it as clear and detailed as she could. Then she had to decide what exactly her power was, where it lay. At first she thought of her mind, but it was currently occupied with the apple. Then she thought about her heart, her soul. The number one emotion that she knew from the heart was love. There was nobody on earth that she really loved; she had been an orphan and didn't have many good friends. So she thought of Demeter, her "mother" for the time, and thought about how caring and loving the goddess of harvest had been towards her. She cared for her for that, maybe even loved her, so that was what she used as her power. She loved Demeter.
There was a soft thud on the table that she was sitting at. When Evie opened her eyes, an apple was sitting there. A perfect, red apple, just like the one she had pictured.
At first Evie just sat there with her mouth open. She knew she couldn't eat anything here, not yet, and she didn't know if this apple counted since she had made it herself. But to be on the safe side, she didn't want to eat it. So she poked it, so see if it was real. It felt solid, and fell over as a result of the poke.
Ecstatic at the discovery of what she could do, Evie couldn't help but laugh long and hard, mostly at the ridiculousness of conjuring up an apple from mid air. When she finished laughing, she decided to do something about the time down here.
Using the same technique as she did with the apple, she pictured in her mind a lantern. It was very simple, made of silver and glass, shaped as a bowl with pretty patterns, and it was a miniature copy of the light of the sun on earth. It appeared on the table, just as the apple did. The thing was very beautiful, and bright, but not too bright. The silver symbols on the frosted glass were used to show what hour it was. Right now the line marked three was glowing, so it was three o'clock in the afternoon on the surface.
Delighted with her new invention, Evie used a hook and string that she had borrowed from the servants to hang it on the ceiling of the room in plain sight. It had a wonderful effect on everything, and made it seem almost bright and cheery. She had also put the apple in the kitchen, so it wasn't wasted and she didn't have the temptation to eat it.
Back on Mount Olympus, Demeter was distraught. She couldn't find Persephone. Artemis didn't know what had happened, since she had gone hunting, and forgot to mention that the nymphs were with her. Hestia tried to provide comfort, but there was none for the weeping mother.
"She had just come back, it was her first day back, and now she's gone," cried Demeter. "I should never have sent her out."
"There now, you aren't helping things by just sitting there and crying, now are you?" asked Hestia.
Demeter ignored her, and buried her face in her hands. The kind Hestia continued to try and talk her out of her sadness, but she acted as though no one was speaking at all.
Finally, Hestia stood in front of the weeping goddess, and said, "If you really are that upset, then why don't you go looking for her instead of sitting here?" And with that she left, since she could think of nothing else to say to her.
Poor Demeter wept for a few minutes longer, and then wrapped herself in a shawl. Through the golden gates she passed, and down the mountain side, until she was among the vast wilderness in the world of the mortals. And for the next three days she wandered, with neither food nor drink. Since she was not taking care of the vegetation as she normally did, the world fell into its first winter, and all the earth was frozen in a harsh, white blanket of cold ice and snow.
After her spell casting Evie had felt suddenly very tired and went to sleep in the gigantic bed. Her dreams were of the field, the sun, the warmth of the surface. Then, suddenly, a cloud fell over everything, and she had a flashback.
When she was eight years old, Evie had been found wandering around in the city in America. She did not know who or where she was, not even her own name or the names of her parents. Police had found her, and brought her to a foster home to live. But the girl had been a bit of a trouble maker, and had lived in a total of four homes before she went off to collage, which she got to by earning scholarships. It had always bothered her that she could not remember anything before being lost. Then there was that day, that glorious day of the class trip in Greece, when she found the brooch. She could have sworn that she felt some recognition, some familiarity from the jeweled wonder.
The lamp from above was dim silver when she awoke, and the markings on the orb read that it was ten o'clock at night. Evie stretched, and rose to light a lamp or two.
As she turned around, she saw that a small oil lamp on the table was flickering with a tiny light of its own. Evie did not remember ever lighting it. Then she saw a movement in the shadows, and even though she tried hard not to, she couldn't help but emit a small gasp in surprise.
"Don't be afraid. It's just me." Hades was sitting on the stool nest to the wall, or that was what Evie assumed judging from where his voice was coming from.
Evie had nothing to say. She was a bit ashamed that she had gasped, since she didn't want to give the god the impression that she was one of those girls that were afraid and couldn't fend for themselves.
Hades stood, and stepped forward so that Evie could see him clearly in what little light there was. He was dressed in a plain, simple garment that had short sleeves and came down above the knees, and resembled pajamas. "Nice work on the light," he said, pointing to the lamp. "Very creative."
"What were you doing there?" Evie had a small suspicion that he was waiting for her to wake up so that he could have his wedding night, and her nervousness returned. It wasn't that she wasn't able to want him as well; it was just that everything was happening so fast that she didn't know what she wanted anymore.
"I was, um, watching you sleep." Hades looked down at the floor as he said this, as if he were feeling embarrassed. "You looked so lovely, and I didn't want to disturb you."
Evie couldn't stand the wondering any longer, so she asked, "Are you wanting to... you know... do what husbands and wives do?" He looked a bit confused, so she said, "Um, I mean, go to bed, sleep together, lie with me..."
"Oh, that," Hades said. Now he was the one who looked uncomfortable. "I want to be truthful, so I will say that I want it with all of my heart. I have loved you since I had first known you, and that love has grown into a passion that I cannot ignore. But, I wish for you to want it as much as I do. I will not force you to lie with me if you do not want to."
Evie felt so relieved that she smiled. Seeing her do that brought a smile to Hades' face as well, and it was the most wonderful and surprising smile the girl had ever seen. His once lonely and melancholy face was suddenly lit up and had a visible spark of joy in it.
It looked as though she was doing her job after all.
Disclaimer: I neither own nor created any of these gods or goddesses, and the tale of Persephone's kidnap is not my own, I am just tweaking it to my own likes.
It was dark. The only light came from iridescent jewels and fungi that were embedded in the ceiling. A solitary building filled the crevice of a corner in the cavern's walls. The architecture was simple, yet grand and made to impress. The stone looked as though it was made of the same material as the walls around it, and you could only actually see the building if the lights were on inside because of the camouflage. Every window was glowing with soft lamplight now, but even that looked cold and unwelcoming in this dreary place.
A servant came from what looked like stables on the side of the house. Evie looked into his eyes for any sign of life, but there was none. He was like a zombie, walking slowly and quietly, his footsteps not making any sound. When he reached the chariot, Hades silently handed him the reins of the screeching creatures, and with the chariot still attached, the man silently guided them back to be put away.
At first Hades seemed to be ignoring Evie, and then she realized that he didn't know what to do next. He tried not to make eye contact with her, and yet stood by as if waiting for something to happen.
After a short while of uncomfortable silence, Evie said, "Nice place you have down here. Not very lively." She meant it as a joke, but Hades wasn't laughing.
However, she did surprise him. Or something like that. Maybe she just woke him up from his previous confusion, because he gently touched her arm and said, "Come. I'll show you around inside."
Gray granite doors moved open silently as the couple passed through. The floor was made of granite also, and gleamed from the light of the torches that lined the walls. A glittering chandelier of thousands of different gems hung from the ceiling. Evie smiled at the sparkling decoration, but that was all that adorned the forum. Instead of a wall in the back there were pillars, tall, dark and straight. Behind that was the courtyard, which instead of flowers held more of the magnificent gems and fungi, along with more torches.
Hades led her down the hallway to the left, which looked no different than the forum. He held out his left hand, gesturing to an open doorway and said simply, "Here is the dining room." They stopped so that Evie could get a good look.
This room held pillows and drapes made of the finest fabrics. The walls were covered in majestic purple curtains, and in the middle of the room sat two comfortable looking couches surrounded by multitudes of dark green, deep blue, and black colored pillows. One table used to hold the food stood in the back. An intricate silver lantern hung by the ceiling and gave off a light that seemed more real than the flickering torchlight had been. The room was a bit small, but it was only used for eating after all.
As the tour progressed, Evie saw the bathroom (plumbing wasn't invented yet, but other than that it was nice overall), the kitchen (which Hades said she wouldn't come in a lot anyway, the servants would take care of preparation), and the throne room, which was the largest room in the house. A glittering mosaic of jewels for the floor made an impressive statement, and the throne itself was solid gold and covered in expensive silks and satins. Evie knew that Hades was known as the god of wealth, and this proved the statement to her.
Finally, Hades brought her to the bedroom. Like the dining room, fabrics covered the walls in dark, sensual shades of red. The bed was the main focal point, in the middle of the room. It was low, huge, and surrounded by a canopy of crimson sheer curtains. There were a lot of pillows here as well. No windows were on the walls, and the lighting was from oil lamps set here and there. No jewels showed their glittery faces here. There was a table with a stool covered in red fabric, but that was the only other furniture.
This was the part Evie had been dreading. She was a virgin, and wasn't really looking forward to having a wedding night with a man she had known for about an hour now, god or not. She became very nervous, and tried not to look at Hades as she said, "Your house is very beautiful. I like it a lot."
"It is your home now. Feel free to go where you wish in it, though I do advise you not to go wandering around outside. There are... disturbing things which you might not want to come in contact with," Hades said. It seemed as though he became relieved whenever Evie said something, as if he were expecting her to hate the whole thing. Evie couldn't blame him. After all, all he knew about her was that she was a beautiful girl and the daughter of Demeter. He was just waiting for her to burst into tears.
Evie did have many questions, and now that Hades was replying to them she didn't feel as nervous any longer. "Can you hear them, the dead guys I mean?"
"Here you cannot. These walls were built to block all of that, and the house itself is not located next to the dead. Have no fear of coming into contact of any kind with them. That is my duty, to judge the dead and keep them where they are supposed to be."
Now she looked at him, and saw an expression of profound loneliness on his face, especially in his brown eyes. She studied his features for a short while. He had short brown hair, neatly trimmed, was clean-shaven, and had smooth, tanned skin. Evie liked him. Not because of his looks, or his wealth, or the pleasurable feelings he gave her when he looked her way or spoke, but because she felt that she was the only one that could ever chase that lonely look from his eyes. That gave her a feeling of purpose, though what she had to do to accomplish that goal was still making her nervous at the moment.
But, thankfully, Hades began to talk again. "I will be gone most days, so you will have the entire house to yourself. If you need a servant to help you with something, just go to the kitchens, there's usually someone there. I need to go get some work done, so... you can do what you like."
With that little speech, he left Evie standing alone in the room. She was relived, and at the same time annoyed that she had to find something to pass the day away on her own. In fact, she had lost all track of time in this dreary place. She did not feel tired, or hungry, but not satisfied knowing that it could very well be midnight on the earth. That she would have to change.
As Hades walked out of the palace, he mused to himself, as he had done so many times this day, about his new bride. Before he left in his chariot, he was not looking forward to how the young girl would react to the ambush. He was absolutely sure that she would cry, and say that she hated him and this place, and demand to see her mother.
From watching her childhood, he knew that was just what she would have done. But then there was those ten years that she was nowhere to be found. Nobody knew what had happened, but then again they didn't dare ask the overprotective mother of her whereabouts.
But whatever had happened to her, Hades liked the change very much. He was still doubtful that she could ever love him the way she did in his daydreams, but there was more hope of that now that he had witnessed her behavior for himself. So he was a little hopeful, for the moment.
But for now he had to clear his head of thoughts. There were souls to judge, and he needed full concentration for the job.
The biggest problem Evie had with the house was the lack of noise. The servants looked human enough, but every time she tried to talk to them it was either "Yes mistress," or "I don't know mistress," or "What would you like, mistress?" She soon tired of talking to any of them and retreated to the bedroom. There she sang to herself, and came up with new melodies, until she finally became bored with that. Then the thought hit her.
(I'm a goddess, right? So, I should have goddess powers. But how the hell am I supposed to use them?)
She tried silently wishing for an apple and waved her hand. Nothing happened, so she did the same thing in a more elaborate manner. She also tried saying all the magic words she had learned as a child, such as "Abracadabra," and "Hocus Pocus," but that didn't work, either.
The next thing she tried was something she had read in a fantasy book once. She tried to picture the apple in her mind, making it as clear and detailed as she could. Then she had to decide what exactly her power was, where it lay. At first she thought of her mind, but it was currently occupied with the apple. Then she thought about her heart, her soul. The number one emotion that she knew from the heart was love. There was nobody on earth that she really loved; she had been an orphan and didn't have many good friends. So she thought of Demeter, her "mother" for the time, and thought about how caring and loving the goddess of harvest had been towards her. She cared for her for that, maybe even loved her, so that was what she used as her power. She loved Demeter.
There was a soft thud on the table that she was sitting at. When Evie opened her eyes, an apple was sitting there. A perfect, red apple, just like the one she had pictured.
At first Evie just sat there with her mouth open. She knew she couldn't eat anything here, not yet, and she didn't know if this apple counted since she had made it herself. But to be on the safe side, she didn't want to eat it. So she poked it, so see if it was real. It felt solid, and fell over as a result of the poke.
Ecstatic at the discovery of what she could do, Evie couldn't help but laugh long and hard, mostly at the ridiculousness of conjuring up an apple from mid air. When she finished laughing, she decided to do something about the time down here.
Using the same technique as she did with the apple, she pictured in her mind a lantern. It was very simple, made of silver and glass, shaped as a bowl with pretty patterns, and it was a miniature copy of the light of the sun on earth. It appeared on the table, just as the apple did. The thing was very beautiful, and bright, but not too bright. The silver symbols on the frosted glass were used to show what hour it was. Right now the line marked three was glowing, so it was three o'clock in the afternoon on the surface.
Delighted with her new invention, Evie used a hook and string that she had borrowed from the servants to hang it on the ceiling of the room in plain sight. It had a wonderful effect on everything, and made it seem almost bright and cheery. She had also put the apple in the kitchen, so it wasn't wasted and she didn't have the temptation to eat it.
Back on Mount Olympus, Demeter was distraught. She couldn't find Persephone. Artemis didn't know what had happened, since she had gone hunting, and forgot to mention that the nymphs were with her. Hestia tried to provide comfort, but there was none for the weeping mother.
"She had just come back, it was her first day back, and now she's gone," cried Demeter. "I should never have sent her out."
"There now, you aren't helping things by just sitting there and crying, now are you?" asked Hestia.
Demeter ignored her, and buried her face in her hands. The kind Hestia continued to try and talk her out of her sadness, but she acted as though no one was speaking at all.
Finally, Hestia stood in front of the weeping goddess, and said, "If you really are that upset, then why don't you go looking for her instead of sitting here?" And with that she left, since she could think of nothing else to say to her.
Poor Demeter wept for a few minutes longer, and then wrapped herself in a shawl. Through the golden gates she passed, and down the mountain side, until she was among the vast wilderness in the world of the mortals. And for the next three days she wandered, with neither food nor drink. Since she was not taking care of the vegetation as she normally did, the world fell into its first winter, and all the earth was frozen in a harsh, white blanket of cold ice and snow.
After her spell casting Evie had felt suddenly very tired and went to sleep in the gigantic bed. Her dreams were of the field, the sun, the warmth of the surface. Then, suddenly, a cloud fell over everything, and she had a flashback.
When she was eight years old, Evie had been found wandering around in the city in America. She did not know who or where she was, not even her own name or the names of her parents. Police had found her, and brought her to a foster home to live. But the girl had been a bit of a trouble maker, and had lived in a total of four homes before she went off to collage, which she got to by earning scholarships. It had always bothered her that she could not remember anything before being lost. Then there was that day, that glorious day of the class trip in Greece, when she found the brooch. She could have sworn that she felt some recognition, some familiarity from the jeweled wonder.
The lamp from above was dim silver when she awoke, and the markings on the orb read that it was ten o'clock at night. Evie stretched, and rose to light a lamp or two.
As she turned around, she saw that a small oil lamp on the table was flickering with a tiny light of its own. Evie did not remember ever lighting it. Then she saw a movement in the shadows, and even though she tried hard not to, she couldn't help but emit a small gasp in surprise.
"Don't be afraid. It's just me." Hades was sitting on the stool nest to the wall, or that was what Evie assumed judging from where his voice was coming from.
Evie had nothing to say. She was a bit ashamed that she had gasped, since she didn't want to give the god the impression that she was one of those girls that were afraid and couldn't fend for themselves.
Hades stood, and stepped forward so that Evie could see him clearly in what little light there was. He was dressed in a plain, simple garment that had short sleeves and came down above the knees, and resembled pajamas. "Nice work on the light," he said, pointing to the lamp. "Very creative."
"What were you doing there?" Evie had a small suspicion that he was waiting for her to wake up so that he could have his wedding night, and her nervousness returned. It wasn't that she wasn't able to want him as well; it was just that everything was happening so fast that she didn't know what she wanted anymore.
"I was, um, watching you sleep." Hades looked down at the floor as he said this, as if he were feeling embarrassed. "You looked so lovely, and I didn't want to disturb you."
Evie couldn't stand the wondering any longer, so she asked, "Are you wanting to... you know... do what husbands and wives do?" He looked a bit confused, so she said, "Um, I mean, go to bed, sleep together, lie with me..."
"Oh, that," Hades said. Now he was the one who looked uncomfortable. "I want to be truthful, so I will say that I want it with all of my heart. I have loved you since I had first known you, and that love has grown into a passion that I cannot ignore. But, I wish for you to want it as much as I do. I will not force you to lie with me if you do not want to."
Evie felt so relieved that she smiled. Seeing her do that brought a smile to Hades' face as well, and it was the most wonderful and surprising smile the girl had ever seen. His once lonely and melancholy face was suddenly lit up and had a visible spark of joy in it.
It looked as though she was doing her job after all.