Another thing I should mention is that there will probably not be as much dialogue in this fic as most others for a few reasons: 1) If you can imagine Hades' realm, I have always thought of it as a very eerily quiet and forlorn place 2) The way I'm characterizing Hades is as as a very laconic, somewhat cold and solemn person. Anyway, I'll try to figure out some way to get around that
Aeriel Ravenna: Thanks for the input, I really appreciate that and I'm glad you like it ) You're right- I used A LOT of artistic license with Adonis' story. There's a couple different versions (as far as I know) of the Adonis-Persephone-Aphrodite love triangle and I'm probably going to change a few things around so that it will fit into my story. I hope you (or anyone else) is not offended by that, but as I said earlier in one of my A/N's, this is slightly AU. Also thanks to Dani, Kore Yan, Picky Picky, Andrea, ., acdecnerd, and MegHarts for your reviews )
And Finally on to the story...
CHAPTER SIX: THE COURTROOM AND THE OBSERVATORY
For several days after her encounter with the Lord Hades, Persephone did not dare to explore the castle anymore. She preferred to stay in her room where she knew she would not find anything darkly intriguing such as portraits of the lord himself. For in truth, those feelings still scared her and she continually denied them to herself. She avoided them by reading the books in her room or paying mind to her kittens.
She had managed to find some sort of a routine for the past two weeks as she waited. Though she had no idea what it was she was waiting for... for the snow to melt into spring once more so that she might return home? To her mother, friends, and perhaps she'd meet Adonis in the forest again? But it seemed so pointless to her- in the fall she'd have to pack her things again and leave for the underworld. So she ignored these circling thoughts as much as she could by trying to find simple joys that paralleled to those she had had in her other life.
But her days were growing mundane and blurring into one another. She could not remember when a day began or ended for during the nights she suffered from insomnia. The only interesting thing was that she had found out that the view from the window in her room was actually a window into the outside world. This explained to her where the sunshine came from that had flooded her room in late autumn. The maid who brought her meals to her three times a day had told her of the enchanted window.
She was sitting on a window ledge, completely immersed in her book (The Seven Botanical Wonders of the World) and absentmindedly stroking the chalk-board gray fur of the kitten she had decided to call Mamba as she read. The others except for Bora and her gray twin were in the palace somewhere, exploring, as Persephone had began to let them out when she realized how cooped up they were feeling inside the room. Persephone herself, who loved the fresh summer breezes and the endless skies above her, could not deny how much she, too felt cooped up.
Sighing, she put a pressed flower in to keep her place, and closed her book. It was almost lunchtime- her stomach was a witness to that- she thought as she felt it growl. And at that very moment she heard a knock and although she had been expecting it, she was startled as she acknowledged whoever it was to come in.
Just as she had thought, it was the maid. A plump, middle-aged woman with dark curls hidden underneath the black head covering which was a part of her uniform. She bustled in with a tray, grinning from ear to ear as she saw Persephone sitting by the window.
"Have ye been reading again?" she asked warmly, as she set the tray down on the table in the room.
"All day." Persephone studied the maid as she set up her lunch on the table. She had never expected a servant of the Lord Hades to be as kind as the maid had been. Not a friend- but as close as one could get to that in the Underworld, Persephone thought. "Won't you join me for lunch?" she asked, as a courteous gesture, but she felt awkward.
The maid, however was reluctant and she returned to a more reserved tone. "Thank you for the invite, Miss, but it jus' wouldn't be right"
"Ah, that's too bad," Persephone replied quietly and made a mental note to herself not to try to make any friends in the Underworld anymore.
"Sadly, I have chores and other duties I need to tend to- although I would have loved to. Enjoy yer lunch, though"
"Thank you." Persephone pulled out one of the chairs and took a seat.
"I'll pick the tray up later," she said with a slight smile.
"Alright," she said, watching the maid closed the door behind her, as she unfolded a napkin and placed it in her lap.
She pulled back her strawberry blonde hair and began to eat. When she was done, she dabbed her mouth daintily and stacked the dirty dishes neatly back onto the tray. She decided to leave the tray just outside her door and later that day, she heard the maid come by and pick it up. She didn't even ask why the tray had been outside. Persephone felt lonely once more. Her pets were sleeping again and the room was painfully silent.
She pressed her face against the window pane and realized the first snowfall had begun. But it seemed only yesterday that she had been outside with Adonis, getting ready to leave for the Underworld. It had still been harvest then. Persephone had never seen snow before in her life but it seemed to her as if a lot of time had passed. She watched the gentle snowflakes float to the ground in fascination for a long time.
For the first time in a long while that night, Persephone was able to sleep after watching the snow. She slept soundly and dreamt about being outside in the white wonderland, exploring with a handsome young man whose face she could not see. Was it Hades? Adonis? She was not sure- Even when she woke up, she was indecisive whether it had been Hades or Adonis.
Her routine continued for a further week without her catching a single glimpse of Hades. When she was in her room by herself she could almost forget where she was and that she was at Hades' palace in the Underworld.
When Persephone woke up another usual morning, she realized she had had enough- she could no longer live alone in her room without a friend, without a soul but her five kittens, which were already growing increasingly independent and going exploring more frequently. She woke up early and dressed simply, leaving a note for the maid in case she did not come back in time for breakfast. She left the door a crack open so that her cats could come and go as they liked. And she left.
He caught his first glimpse of the darkness when he saw the man. He looked rather worn out and tired. He probably hadn't seen a bath in centuries, his hair disheveled and eyes dull. Charon was the first name that came to mind. This man was Charon. The man met his eyes and made a noise in his throat that sounded remotely like a grunt that might mean ,"Get Over Here If You Want to be Rowed across". Before he hurried over to Charon's side, he quickly glanced around him, but Hermes had already left. Adonis was not afraid of any monster, wild beast, or army of ferocious men. The only thing he really feared was to be utterly alone. Alone in such a way where he knew he would be alone with himself for all eternity. He knew that in the Underworld he would never have to worry about being alone-
He barely noticed his trip across the river, but suddenly as the boat reached the banks of the river, Adonis remembered payment and reached into the folds of his clothing for money. He panicked a moment, not knowing whether he had any money since his body had not been buried with a coin as others were. But to his surprise, he found a coin tucked in the folds of his tunic, which he hastily handed to Charon.
From the River Styx, he was guided by a mysterious hooded creature with a stooped posture but quick pace. He was led across several bridges over the rivers Acheron, the river of woe; Cocytus, the river of lamentation; Phlegethon, the river of fire; and Lethe, the river of forgetfulness. As his foot stepped off the last bridge, already it seemed that his memories and mind seemed more distant and an intense feeling of anguish had stirred up in his chest, though he did not know what he was aching for.
The figure tapped him on the shoulder- almost so softly that he hardly noticed and he whispered in a hoarse voice, "there," while pointing with a bony index finger to a gray building. Adonis took off and stepped inside without further ado. He opened a creaky door, only to find himself in a large room. It resembled something, but what? It seemed to be buried deep in time... What was this place? He looked around the formation of the dusty little chairs. The soaring ceilings of the room. He walked around in a strange daze, his mind fixed on trying to remember.
Suddenly he was not alone in the room. He had circled the room and suddenly noticed that a bleak little man had appeared in a high chair. How long had that man been sitting there, watching him? Adonis did not know what to say. It seemed ages ago since he had used his voice.
The man's eagle eyes focused on Adonis.
"Who are you?" Adonis asked from across the room, not daring to stare directly back.
The man had a haunched back, slightly crooked shoulders, and he resembled- a moldy wedge of cheese. A rather severe wedge of cheese, actually.
The man ignored his question with a wave of the hand. "Your name is Adonis," he said, forming the sentence like a question but pronouncing it like a statement.
"Yes, that I am." Adonis began to walk towards the gray little man.
"I am Radamanthus," the man said, looking at Adonis with his piercing eyes.
Something clicked in Adonis' mind. He stopped advancing towards the man and stood still, trying to search his mind. What was this place...? He looked around once more. The word was at the tip of his tongue. K.. ka...kor... court! It was a courtroom! And this man... he was Radamanthus... judge of the dead!... He was dead? Since when?
"It is time for your judging now," Radamnathus said slowly. And as Adonis turned around, the courtroom was full of people! No, not people. The courtroom was full of the dead. And they were loud and protesting or cheering as Radamanthus reviewed Adonis' records.
"You stole a horse from a stable in your village?" he said in a dry voice.
"That I did, but I am justifi"
"But you did it?" Radamanthus continued.
"Yes, howev-" Jeers and protests drowned out Adonis' self-defense.
"You killed a man?"
Adonis felt that vulture-like eye watching him. "I did- but only out of revenge."
The courtroom quieted a little. From another chair that Adonis had not seen before, an authorative voice spoke, "In THIS world, there is no such thing as revenge. No such thing"
Adonis looked at the figure that had spoken. Who was that? Was that the Dark Lord himself? Did he attend every judgement?
"I am not of this world, however," Adonis said. More wild protests across the room.
"But you are here now, are you not? You are dead, are you not?" The same figure said.
"No." What was he saying? Wasn't he dead? Then why was here?
"You jumped from your own horse. You killed yourself. You THREW away your life. You insulted Zeus himself!" Radamanthus spat, looked disgustedly at Adonis.
"No. No. I only did these things for those who had been killed"
"You still committed against what you should have done!" Radamanthus' voice boomed over the loud chatters across the room. "You are done"
Out of invisible corners in the room, appeared two guards that dragged him away.
She was making sure this time to avoid all the places where she had run into him and decided to venture further upstairs. She found herself a tight, creaky staircase that worried her at first, at the groans it made as she stepped up slowly. But before she knew it, she was up in a large chamber with windows everywhere. Persephone spent a while examining the snowfall from all different angles, still fascinated with it.
Then, she decided to move on and walked through a set of double doors into a black marble hallway. across from her, the hall turned a corner, to her right it ended with a grandfather clock standing against the wall, to her left, there was a heavy oak door. She continued straight down the hall, turned the corner and stood in front of double doors made of ebony. She fingered the brass door knobs for a slight moment before she opened them.
The room was dark, but there was a dim source of light from across the room. They were a set of glass doors that opened to what seemed a balcony. However, they seemed far way and the room was large and pitch black. Nonetheless, Persephone stepped into the room, spreading her arms out to feel for any objects or furniture.
And from some source, suddenly, she saw the ceiling light up in a veil of stars. Persephone fell in a quandary of amazement. Her heart sped up. This wasn't just any observatory. This was THE observatory.
Ok, ok- I know. The last part was bad, I'll fix that later, but I have to post this tonight. My first update in MONTHS! YAY -)
So, tell what you think!
-PTB