Persephone
Persephone was perched on the end of her bed, legs drawn to her chest and chin on her knees. A question hung heavy over her head. Her gaze settled on the helm as it lay on the soft linens, beholding her with its blank, vacuous stare.
She stared at the inky black iron, making a striking contrast with the crisp, white bedclothes; staring intently, but not truly seeing. All that occupied her mind was what had happened in the woods.
Strong arms holding her waist. Lips so close, she could feel his breath on her skin. The memory of it was enough to make her skin turn red and her head to become dizzy with heat. And then… the abrupt shift in Hades' mood.
What had happened to pull him out of that moment?
A knock rang out over her room. Persephone jumped out of her skin as it pulled her violently out of her thoughts. She studied the grainy wood of the doors in a stunned sort of trance as the entity on the other side gave another tentative knock.
Who could it be, she wondered. Anyone who came to visit her knew that knocking was not necessary. Friends were welcome to come and go as they pleased. This had to have been someone who had yet to call on her in her chambers…
Another knock. Persephone gasped as it dawned on her who it could be.
There was only one close to her who had not ever come for a visit. He would not know that he did not have to knock. Only he would be so considerate enough to keep up that insistent if not timid permission to enter.
"Come—come in!" She stammered to her visitor.
There came a soft creaking as the latch turned and the door opened slowly. A tall, broad figure stepped into her room, looking like a giant compared to the slim, dainty Nymphs and goddesses that usually paid her visits. In fact, seeing his masculine frame step into her personal space, an intimate place where she dressed and slept, made that heat creep into her veins just as it had done in the woods when they were so very close.
"Hades…" She breathed his name in a bashful awe. "You're here."
"I promised that I would come for you…"
The sonorous tones of his voice in her room sounded like music. She wanted to revel in the moment and return to that warm embrace, but the way he spoke caught her attention. It pulled her out of her daydreaming. Her surprise at his presence in her room was overtaken by the expression darkening his features; the furrow of his brow told her that whatever was troubling him in the woods was troubling him still. The feelings of warmth that had distracted her were whisked away as concern took their place.
"You did promise me," Persephone mumbled in agreement. She felt foolish for letting herself be enamored by his presence when there were more pressing matters at hand. "Can you please tell me what happened? I have not been able to keep myself from worrying."
Hades stepped further into her room, crossing the space until he stood next to her where she sat on the bed. He towered over her and crossed his arms over his chest. Charcoal eyes did not meet hers. Instead, he was staring intently down at his sandals, black hair falling morosely around his face. He remained in that prostrate position for quite some time. The minutes ticked on by and the longer he stayed silent, the more anxious Persephone grew. He was struggling with what to say. She knew it. Something had happened to cause him to be speechless like this. It was not until she whispered his name that he lifted his head and at last, looked her in the eyes and made a stunning declaration.
"Zeus was here."
The entire room tilted to the left as a rush of shock and adrenaline coursed through her. She was dizzy. Black spots darkened her vision. Her lungs were left burning as she tried to take in gasps of air. She thought that her heart would stop beating. It took every ounce of strength she had to not fall to the floor in a heap or go running from the room in terror, fleeing to safety. Wherever that may be. Part of her half expected the god of gods to come bursting in through the door at the mention of his name. Her sights went straight to the door and she braced herself for the imagined inevitable.
"Zeus!" Persephone exclaimed, her voice ringing off the walls. She could hear how small and panicked she sounded. "Why was he here? Was that why you became so strange in the woods?"
Hades watched her descend into panic. He lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. The heavy warmth seeped into her skin and Persephone tried to ground herself with his soothing touch. She even reached up and resting her trembling fingers on top of his. His closeness reminded her that he was the god of this world; he would surely not let Zeus just barge into her room. He was in charge here. Zeus could not touch her while she was beneath Hades' protective touch.
Her breathing slowed down. The dark spots faded. She started coming down from her panic and Hades waited patiently until she had stopped shaking before he gave her an answer to her question.
"When we were in the woods, I sensed him coming into the Underworld," he told her somberly. "I did not want to say anything. I did not want to cause you distress knowing that he was here. But my secrecy and change in mood seems to have distressed you regardless."
His hand grasped her shoulder with a gentle pressure. "I am sorry, Persephone. I, too, was feeling a sense of shock. Zeus has never come here before. I thought that I was going mad when I felt him cross the threshold of the land of the living into my world."
Everything was starting to fall into place. Her questions were being given answers. Everything started to make sense now. But the answers were far worse than she could have ever imagined. In all of her wildest thoughts about what the matter could be, Zeus in the Underworld was the furthest from her mind. It was a violating feeling, knowing that he had been where she walked. Part of the appeal of this place was that it had never been tainted by that wicked man's presence. Now, she would stand in the throne room and know that he had been there. Her skin crawled as she imagined him wandering around the misty woods that she so loved, darkening those sacred places with something far more sinister than the peaceful death that shrouded the world.
Yet if she found so much disgust in Zeus being here, how much more did it make Hades feel?
She realized that he was still staring down at her, waiting for her to say something.
"Is he still here?"Persephone asked in a whisper. Almost as if fearing the ears of Zeus to hear her and send lightning down from the heavens to smite her for her dislike of him.
"No. He has left. He could not stand to be here for a second longer than he needed to be."
That made her feel somewhat better. But not by much. The reason for his visit was still unknown to her, though nothing about it bode well.
"Hades… why did he come here? If he has never been here before, then something drastic must have urged him to make this visit. Was it my mother? Was it… was it me?"
A deep sigh escaped from the depths of his chest, as if he had been holding his breath the entire time and it was begging to be released. His hand tightened its hold on her shoulder. Now it was Hades who was trembling ever so slightly. He let his gaze fall back to the floor and this time, he could not bring himself to look directly at her.
Before his black hair hid his eyes, Persephone swore that she saw drops of moisture glimmering on his eyelashes.
"He has declared that you are to leave the Underworld and return to the land above."
This time, instead of raging panic threatening to overtake her, Persephone only felt a cold numbness. The room felt like a vast, endless abyss. She was distant from the entire world. From Hades. From even herself. This should have been wonderful news! So why did it feel as if her existence had just been yanked out from beneath her feet?
"When?"
That one word was all that she could muster. Her question cut through the room like a knife. Hades stood over her, his face wrought with sorrow.
"Soon. Demeter and a young god named Hermes will arrive to take you home."
Her throat grew tight. She had a hard time thinking clearly. Her disbelief caused her lips to spill a secret that she had thought to keep buried forever.
"I know Hermes…" Persephone heard herself saying. "I have known him for many months."
Hades was quiet. His hand continued to hold her.
"Of course," he muttered softly. Perhaps he was starting to have realizations of his own.
"Are you angry?"
"Why would I be?"
"Because-it is silly--I--he was my only link to the world above and I--I don't know--I thought you would hate me for it--so silly--"
Persephone was becoming agitated. All her reasons for not telling Hades about her friendship with Hermes all sounded so foolish now. Her stammering only triggered the panic again. She was getting dizzy all over again and Persephone swayed on the bed as worries far greater than that of her secret meetings with Hermes overtook her.
Hades sensed that she was getting upset. He gripped her harder to keep her from toppling over.
"Do not let the matter trouble you," he assured her with nothing less than understanding. "It matters not."
Persephone let herself believe his assurances. What did that matter when she was about to be taken from the Underworld?
"How soon is soon?" Persephone wanted to know. "How much time do we have left?"
"A matter of hours."
Hours. A matter of hours and she would be gone from this place she had grown to love; merely a memory. A ghostly figure haunting the shadowy halls. Footsteps left forever imprinted on the dewy grass. Laughter echoing over the lush gardens. Ivy and roses and green plants left to grow wild for eternity. Friendships cultivated that would be left unattended. Annis and Nyx and the Nymphs; women she had come to love dearly as sisters, she would never see again.
And Hades.
She would be torn from him forever. Of all the incredible things to have happened in the twilight soaked Underworld, learning to care for him despite their troubled beginning had been the most unexpected.
Hades hovered at her side, but he stayed standing. His posture was stiff. Rigid. He did not look comfortable. Persephone wished that he would just sit beside her. They did not have much time together. Why would he not just sit down and try to glean whatever moments they had left? The way he acted now reminded her so much of the Hades from her early days in the Underworld; distant and unsure of himself.
He saw her watching him and he sighed again, this time with a sad resignation that made her heart ache.
"Persephone. This change is not exactly unexpected but it is sudden. How are you feeling about returning home?"
Persephone mused for a moment. There were too many feelings swirling around inside of her. All of it was a confusing, conflicting jumble.
"How am I feeling?" Persephone shook her head as the question nagged at her. "There is much that I feel, Hades. I am excited to see my mother again, even though I am disappointed by her extreme actions on my behalf. It will be a bittersweet reunion. I will be happy to see my home again. And my old companions. But, I hate to leave behind this place that I have learned to love. I hate to leave behind my dear friends that I have made. I will never see any of them again and that makes me terribly sad. I am sad, Hades. My mother is here to take me home and yet, I cannot find much joy. I should want this, shouldn't I?"
"It is not for me to say what you should and should not want…" Hades offered. Persephone was not comforted by that. It would be much simpler if he just told her how to feel, instead of her feeling everything all at once. They stayed quiet for a little longer as they lost themselves in their respective thoughts. To her own surprise, she started to think of the absent father who had come here, on her behalf it might have appeared. The two of them had never been so close to one another ever before.
"Zeus. He was here…"
Hades shifted uncomfortably at the mention of his brother's name and he did not say anything. Persephone noted the tightness in his jaw and a small gleam of something angry flash across his eyes. But she pressed on. Her curiosity urged her to ask.
"How did he act? When he mentioned me… how did he seem?"
Hades could not manage to meet her gaze. He looked at everything but her. That anger burned brighter and Persephone wondered what had taken place between the brothers.
"As he always does…" Hades grumbled at last.
Persephone did not pursue the matter any longer after that. He had given her enough to ponder. The ambiguity in his answer left her to wonder but that silent fury told her all that she needed to know.
She decided to move on. With what little time they had left slipping like grains of sand through an hourglass, Persephone did not want to waste any of it on more talk of Zeus.
But oh how she wished that he would sit beside her.
"What will this mean for your world?" She asked, inching towards him, trying to urge him to come close.
"We shall see, won't we..."
His hand remained poised on her shoulder but he would not come any closer. The pain etched over his features as the question of his world's fate, became hard for her to bear. She picked up his hand and held it in both of hers.
And his pain only deepened tenfold. She saw that wetness clinging to his eye lashes again. His fingers laced with hers, holding on with a desperation that frightened her.
"Will you be alright?" She hastily asked, feeling herself well up with alarm, now for Hades. Never in all their time together had he been this openly despondent.
Now, his eyes were boring into hers. Everything unsaid with words was burning in the air between them and in their fingers holding tightly to one another. Persephone could not say for certain what caused those tears, but she could guess that their thoughts were one in the same.
The uncertainty of his world. The unwelcome intrusion of Zeus. The looming separation just when they had only begun to explore what they were to each other. The stark reality of never seeing one another again.
They held onto each other until they could not bear it any longer. Hades turned his face away and he drew his hand from hers, leaving her to grasp at the empty air that he left behind.
"We shall see…" he mumbled, repeating what he had said before.
An answer that was not an answer. His voice was tight. Strained. He sounded like a man withered with age.
"I must go make arrangements," he told her, turning around to head to the door. "I will fetch your friends so that they can say goodbye."
Persephone could only nod in reply. He did not seem to need much more than that, and he marched away from the bed, but not before coming to an abrupt halt.
"You ask if I will be alright… but it is I who should be asking you." Hades turned to glance at her over his shoulder. His face was full of sorrow. His eyes were red. But he ventured to ask about her well being.
"Will you be alright?"
His concern touched her but it did nothing to alleviate the rising tidal wave that hovered beneath the surface.
"We… we shall see…" Persephone told him. What more could there be said? Now, in this current moment, she did not feel well about any of it. Her joy could not bloom. Her disappointment was confusing. The conflicted feelings she had tore her apart on the inside. How could she say that she would be alright? How could she blame Hades for saying the same thing about himself?
None of this was fair. Any semblance of choice she had was now ripped from her grasp. Everyone else but her had the right to decide her fate.
It was his turn to nod. Nothing more could be said. He tore away from her, facing the door to leave. She saw him wipe at his cheek before he crossed the threshold and into the hallway beyond. The door closed as slowly as it had been opened, the latch closing with a soft metallic click.
The moment that Persephone found herself alone, the tidal wave crashed through her defenses. She let herself be lost beneath the flood. The soft bedclothes surrounded her as she fell onto the bed, letting herself weep for all that was gained, for all that was about to be lost.
Olympus
Only a few of the elite were gathered.
Zeus deigned to show up to this meeting to make sure that it actually happened, now that he decided to have a vested interest in the ongoing issue. Athena sat at his side to keep the peace, in case Demeter or Zeus wanted to share harsh words.
Hera came with Zeus, as she always did, to keep a watchful eye over her wandering husband while the goddess of the Harvest was in their presence.
After all, he had once pursued Demeter with an insatiable interest.
Though, the events of Persephone's conception had not been a matter of consent. The interest had not been mutual, not even for a shred of a second. But the long scorned Hera had difficulty seeing past her own rage at Zeus' philandering to consider that his dalliance with Demeter had been nothing more than coerced. His lovers were all damned in her eyes, whether they had been willing or not, and her broken heart would seek to punish them in a fit of misplaced jealousy.
The matter of Persephone resurfaced old wounds that never healed and Hera had succumbed to a foul mood ever since she heard of the young goddess being taken by Hades. She made it known to all who would listen that she longed for this to be over so she would not have to hear of the goddess any longer, and she could go back to forgetting the whole affair.
Hermes found himself standing in the middle of the open room. The gods sitting on their thrones all stared at him, none of them truly seeing him as he bounced nervously on his heels. They were all waiting in heavy anticipation for the arrival of Demeter.
The four of them were not kept waiting for long. They knew that as soon as word of Zeus' declaration reached Demeter, she would find her way to Olympus as fast as her feet could carry her.
She pushed open the doors without so much as a knock and swept into the room in all her glory, robes trailing behind her and auburn hair flying every which way. A cold reception awaited her. None of them were pleased with her. None of them said a single word; they watched her with furrowed brows and steely eyes. But none of that seemed to matter to her. She did not come here for their approval or forgiveness. She came to a halt in the middle of the floor, placed her hands on her hips, and glared up at the others with an air of haughtiness.
"I am glad that you have seen it my way," her sneering voice echoed over the pristine marble, filling the room and turning the cool air a shade colder.
Hermes started to inch his way to the entrance once he spotted the expression sprawled across Zeus' face. Hera scoffed in disgust. Only Athena spoke up, if only to keep the peace between the immortals.
"You will cease your murderous madness once your daughter is back in this world and in your home?" The goddess asked with a calm that was deceptive; anyone could tell that she, too, was displeased.
Demeter was not moved by the ire of those who sat above her. She kept her hands firmly planted on her hips and glowered at Athena.
"You have my word," she snarled as if the promise to those she loathed was nothing less than painful to her.
Zeus had been shifting around in his seat from the second that Demeter arrived. He told his wife and daughter that he would not say a word to his sister when she came, to make sure that everything remained civil. It would be best for him to stay silent, Athena advised. But that promise was doomed to be broken. Zeus could not stand to say nothing and miss a chance to berate her for her insubordination.
"Do you realize that your actions have threatened our power as immortals?" Zeus asked in a booming voice that shook the floor.
Athena rubbed her temple with her fingers and gave a huffy sigh of annoyance that followed his question. Hera rolled her eyes and tried to grab Zeus by the wrist in a silent command for him to stop. But he merely pulled himself roughly out of her grip.
Demeter rose to the occasion. One could guess that she had been itching for a fight just as much as Zeus had. Her cheeks burned red and pointed an accusing finger at the god.
"When will you realize that I care little for our powers?" She retorted venomously. "I only wanted my child back. In my home. Where she belongs!"
"Demeter!" Athena called out. "This is not the time to fight amongst ourselves. You have gotten what you wanted. Zeus, please contain yourself."
But Zeus was not quite finished. He leaned forward in his chair, gripping the arms until the marble threatened to crack.
"The strongholds we have over the mortals shall not be threatened by one of our own again. This is your final warning, sister." He growled as thunder rumbled overhead. "You will not have my mercy again."
Demeter laughed; a bitter sound that carried no mirth. She narrowed her eyes at the god, her brother and abuser, and one could see tears of anger swimming in her hazel irises.
"You have no mercy."
The room was cast in shadow as clouds overhead rapidly gathered. Hera and Athena were stiff as they sat in their chairs, neither one brave enough to intervene. Hermes watched from the shadows, wide eyed and cowering.
Zeus turned every shade of red. The air was buzzing with electricity. The fine hairs on their arms and the backs of their necks stood on end. That thunder overhead growled ominously, over and over. Flashes of bright lightning flickered in the clouds, close to the mountaintop and threatening to strike.
But Zeus did not unleash his terror on his sister. Something in him must have decided that it was not worth it. At least, not for now.
"Get out of my sight," he hissed hatefully, his fragile composure long gone. "Bring your daughter out of the Underworld and do not trouble me again."
A warning woven into a command, punctuated by the angry skies above. The threat was glaringly obvious but it did nothing to frighten Demeter.
Zeus had already done his worst to her, long ago.
"Believe me, I loathe the idea of being in your presence ever again." Demeter countered but before Zeus could say anything more, Athena jumped in, finally intervening.
"Enough," she commanded in exasperation. "This bickering will do us no good. Demeter. Hermes. It is time. Go to Hades and fetch Persephone. Let us end this once and for all."
Hermes jumped into action. He emerged from his hiding spot in the shadows and scampered over to Demeter's side. The goddess peeled herself from glaring at her brother to instead look at the young god with little more than fleeting interest. He offered her his arm but she declined with cold silence. Hermes looked back at the other gods, as if to ask them if he really had to do this. But Athena nodded, urging him to go on with this distasteful task.
And so, Hermes hurried out of the room with Demeter in tow, on their way to the Underworld to bring back the young goddess that had unwittingly put the entire world into a frenzy.
Hades
Hades sat on his throne. He rested his chin in his hand. His eyes watched the flames flickering in the braziers but he did not see. Even the select few gathered around him were lost to his attention as he delved deep into his own head.
In the rapidly declining minutes that he had left until Demeter came to the Underworld, his thoughts turned to a time when they had never been closer.
When he and his siblings were held captive in the belly of their beastly father.
The memories he carried of the dark times were dim and hazy; like looking into a dream long after waking and only catching bits and pieces of the slumbering mind's conjuring. When Hades tried to peer into the specifics of his time in captivity, there was not much else he could recall other than darkness and fear.
And yet…
There were moments when he remembered small rays of careful hope. Closeness with his siblings. Comfort that he as the eldest gave to the younger ones. Their childhoods were stolen from them, and marred by trauma given to them by the very one who should have loved them. He remembered those fleeting moments, few and far in between, when he held his crying siblings in his arms and he felt as if he had become their true father.
And one of those siblings he held had been Demeter. Out of all of them, she was the one he remembered the most. She was more fearful than the rest. She needed comfort and more than once, more than twice, more times than he could remember in the bleary haze of memory, a tiny Demeter had crawled into his arms and wept into his chest.
He had held her and whispered words of hope, foolish and vain, into her ear. He stroked her hair, so red and shiny even in the darkness, and promised her that all would be well. In their time of imprisonment, he remembered that their bond was strong.
Perhaps the strongest bond out of all of them.
Now, in current times when they were grown and aged and her red hair faded to auburn, Hades was the source of her greatest tribulation. The brother that had once comforted in the way a father would, he became the source of her pain.
The regret was a heavy yoke upon his shoulders. Hades could not regret his time with Persephone, but he regretted how that time came to be. He could not forgive himself for being the cause of that little Demeter to cry, this time with nobody to ease her suffering.
Another brother, another betrayal.
And she was coming here to seek retribution.
His mood had grown dark and gloomy, turning his world into one of deep shadows and gray clouds. The room could sense the coming storm. Any moment now, Demeter would arrive and Hades could only imagine what that meeting would be like.
So he sat on his seat, brooding and silent, while the others gathered at his side fell to the same melancholy. Everyone important to Persephone had been summoned to the throne room. Nyx, Annis, and a few others she had come to befriend over her time spent in the Underworld. They were there to show their support and to wish her farewell.
How long had it been since he pulled her beneath the earth and cursed her to the land of the dead? A few months? Not enough time. It would never be enough time. And now his time was nearly gone.
They all expected this to happen. It had been inevitable that someday she would return to the land above, but there was not a dry eye to be found in the women gathered around the goddess. Persephone herself stood amongst them, her face pale and her eyes red, but she had not said a word ever since Hades had left her in her room. She closed herself up and would speak to none of them. Not Annis. Not Nyx. Not Hades. Her eyes would often wander over to Hades and she would gaze at him with an expression that he could not read.
But he could see that she was not happy.
Hades did not want to leave her. He had longed to sit beside her on the bed and gather her in his arms, not unlike the way he had held her mother once, but the meaning of his embrace would be far different. But Hades had kept his distance. To touch her and know that it would be his last would be agony, he told himself, but as they all sat in stony silence, he regretted his foolishness. That was when he should have been drinking her in as much as he could. He should have held her. He should have kissed her. He should have done everything that Peresphone would have been willing to share with him.
She had wanted him to be close. He could see it in her eyes.
And he had denied her, because of his own selfish fear. Now she was sitting beside him but she might as well have been a thousand miles away.
What a fool he was. What a damn fool.
Then, the atmosphere in his world shifted. Just as it had done when Zeus came to darken his door, so it did now, warning Hades that their latest visitor was merely minutes away. Beside him, he saw Persephone stiffen and her red eyes went wide. Her lips trembled and she leaned heavily on Annis for support.
He wondered if she, too, sensed the arrival of her mother in the Underworld.
They counted the minutes that passed by at a crawl, the air teeming with a suffocating tension, until they heard pounding footfalls on the steps outside. Then without warning, the doors flew open, letting in a blanket of mist that hovered over the tiles. Rushing in behind the mist came two figures; one tall and willowy and the other fluttering over the ground.
Hades could feel his heart shattering into pieces when he saw the face of his sister. The years had not been kind to her. Time and trauma had ravaged her features; frown lines and gray hair decorated a face that had once been eternally youthful and full of sunlight. He cursed Zeus for the pain he heaped upon his sister, enough to change her appearance so drastically, and he cursed himself for adding to that pain.
But Demeter did not even glance his way. All of her attention went to the goddess she called daughter. She cried out her name and raced across the room to greet her loved one. Persephone let out a sob and she broke away from her friends to meet her mother. The two of them fell into an embrace, tears flowing and their cries mingling together in a symphony of relief and grief.
Hades watched them, his heart still shattering. He watched Demeter place loving kisses all over Persephone's hair. He watched Persephone wipe the tears from her own cheeks. He saw her lips turn upwards in a hesitant smile, then fall back into a somber grimace; as if she struggled to be truly happy with the reunion. Demeter did not notice, or if she did, the goddess did not mention it. She basked in the presence of her daughter, safe at last in her arms.
No longer in Hades' arms.
They all waited patiently for the mother and daughter to be satisfied in their reunion. Hades was sick with dread for that moment to end because he knew what would be coming next.
As sure as the sunrise, once Demeter gave Persephone one final kiss, she turned her attention to the grim observers at the end of the room.
"You! You beast!" She snarled like the hound of hell itself. She might as well have had three heads, jaws snapping and growling.
"Mother…" Persephone pleaded softly, trying to grab her hand. But Demeter would have none of it. She told Persephone to stand down and let her deal with Hades. The young goddess shrank back as if she had been struck and Hades flinched. He had not seen her so meek, not since she first arrived to the Underworld. Now he knew that meekness was not a part of her personality and it pained him to see the loss of autonomy she so treasured.
"How dare you do this to her!" Demeter berated once Persephone had been silenced. "How dare you take what is not yours!"
Her accusing voice rang in his ears like a bell.
"Demeter…" Hades wanted to do something to placate his fuming sister. Maybe, there was a small chance that he could reach that part of her, the small child she once was, and mend the wounds he had caused.
But Demeter turned bright red with gathering fury when her name dared to come out of his mouth. Any hope he had at reasoning with her was futile. Whatever bond had been forged was long gone; severed by his own two hands.
Demeter marched up to the foot of his throne. She glared up at him with fire in her hazel eyes. Hades was struck by how similar they were to Persephone's eyes. It made his stomach turn to have those eyes glare at him with such unabashed hatred. Even when Persephone was wary and untrusting of him, she had not once looked at him the way Demeter did now.
"Silence!" Her command cut like a knife. "I do not want to hear from you! You have no right to speak to me, or to my daughter. You have betrayed me. I trusted you, Hades. Surely you remember. I know that you remember. Those days stuck inside of Cronus, and you were the one I sought for shelter and comfort."
Her words had lost their rage. Now, she quivered with emotions that could hardly be contained. Hades wanted to hand his head and stare at his feet in shame, but she deserved for him to look her in the eye. So he held steady, even as he welled up with his own private sorrow.
"I had always held you in high esteem," Demeter continued. She shook her head, auburn hair falling around her and a few angry tears sliding down her cheek. "You were safe. You were different than the others, so I believed."
The vitriol seeped back into her tone, like poison in wine. Her teeth were bared and she pointed up at him, her hand quivering.
"Now, I will despise you for all eternity. You are not safe. You are just as wild and wicked and lustful as the rest of them!"
Hades could not respond to that. What right did he have to defend himself when he had done her such a deep wrong? He had not acted on his lust, past taking Persepohone to his world. After that, he tried his best to act decently. But what did it matter when all Demeter knew was that a man had taken her daughter against her will? Someday, he hoped the truth would come out but now, Demeter deserved to speak her piece.
Persephone had crept up behind her mother. She looked up at Hades with tears glittering in her hazel eyes and an apology written across her face. Hades only held her gaze for a moment, looking away before Demeter could call him out on daring to look at her daughter. But her attention moved to the women cowering by the throne. She scoffed at them with nothing less than sheer loathing.
"All of you here—I see your tears. I see you weeping. Your tears are nothing to me. Nothing!" Demeyer shrieked, ignoring Persephone as she tried to make her stop. "How can you weep for her when you serve Hades—the one who kidnapped her and soiled her! You pretend to care but you are complicit in this crime. All of you are guilty!" Her voice had reached a pitch that made him cringe. It rang off the tiles in an echo that seemed endless. Now Persephone could not be ignored. She was openly crying, pulling her mother's arm and pleading.
"Mother! Please! Stop—"
"Persephone!" Demeyer whirled around and grabbed her daughter by the wrist. Her face was incredulous. "How can you ask me to stay quiet? Has your mind been so altered by the darkness that you cannot see them for the vile beings they are?"
"They are not vile! They are my friends! None of them have harmed me." Persephone's lips trembled and she shook her head, trying her best to argue for her friends' sake.
"I do not believe that! How can you tell me that?"
"They are good to me—"
"No!—"
Hades found himself standing on his feet. He could not stand to watch Persephone have her mother's anger turned towards her. He stepped down from the dias and placed himself beside them, close but not daring to touch either one. His nearness pulled them out of their arguing and pulled a vastly different reaction from each of them; Demeter grimaced and hissed at him to leave them be but Persephone turned red and shifted ever so slightly in his direction.
"You are right, Demeter," he agreed somberly. "By my actions, I am no better than the others. I deserve nothing less than all of your ire."
Demeter leaned forward and peered up into Hades' face, bold enough to stand toe to toe with one of the most powerful gods that existed.
"You deserve worse," came her venomous whisper.
Every being in the room was struck dumb. The Nymphs were clutching onto Nyx, who was staring at Demeter with ice in her vivid blue eyes. Annis looked as if she wanted to strike Demeter herself. Hermes, who had been standing by the doors the entire time to keep his distance from the drama, had one foot beyond the threshold and one still in the throne room.
Hades remained the only one unaffected by Demeter's harshness. At least, he hid it well from the others. He merely sighed, the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he backed away from his sister.
"Perhaps so. But those gathered here to send Persephone off have nothing to do with my mistakes. Do not berate them. They are not complicit in my actions."
Demeter would have none of it. She gave each of the others a withering glance before letting her sights fall back to Hades. If looks could kill, Hades would have been damned to the very lowest depths of Tartarus. He said nothing more. Nothing was left for him to say. He never even had the chance to say a proper goodbye to Persephone.
Another foolish oversight on his part.
Demeter started to tug on her daughter's arm and Hades knew that this was the moment. The time had come. Once Demeter left, he would never see Persephone ever again.
"Come, little Kore," he heard Demeter say. "It is time to go home."
His tears would not allow him to see. Everything came together in a blur.
He would never forgive himself for not saying goodbye.
"You are free now, and you will never have to be imprisoned and serve his desires ever again. Hermes. Escort us to the entrance."
Hades blinked and his vision cleared enough for him to make out Hermes rushing over to Demeter.
And he saw Persephone being half dragged by her mother, but she was looking back at him. Their eyes locked and something glimmered in her hazel irises. Hades stiffened and his heart began to pound. Persephone blushed and then turned pale. She clenched her jaw and suddenly planted her feet into the black marble.
"Wait! Mother, wait!" She spared Hades one more second before she whirled around to face her mother. "I—I need to go back to my room. I left something behind and I need to retrieve it before we leave—"
Demeter allowed herself to stop. Hermes halted a few feet away. His blue eyes shifted back and forth between the two women. Demeter considered her daughter, her suspicion obvious.
"Fine then," she muttered curtly, not letting go of Persephone's arm. "I will come with you."
Persephone nodded to show that she agreed to the terms. Without another word, Persephone turned on her heel and marched back across the room, heading to the door that would lead her into the inner part of the palace. Within seconds, the mother and daughter duo disappeared from their sight, Demeter trailing behind Persephone as she still held onto her with a vice-like grip.
The moment that they were gone, Nyx rushed over to Hades' side and launched into a tirade, angry and defensive and sorrowful. But Hades raised a hand to ask for her silence. Nyx obediently cut off her words but she fixed her face into a frown. Hades wandered back over to his throne and sat down on the cool, hard marble. This ordeal of letting Persephone go would apparently be dragged on a bit longer.
He was not sure how much more he could take, but at least he had a second chance to try to say a proper goodbye--as good of a farewell as Demeter would allow.
Barely a few minutes passed by for him to ponder on how he would say his goodbye to the goddess who had stolen his heart, when a frantic screaming echoed madly through his palace.
Instantly, Hades was on his feet. This was not the scream of Persephone. He had never heard her wail in such a terrified way, but he knew all too well the sound of the screams of his sister.
In seconds, a panicked Demeter came flying into the throne room. She ran across the room and went straight for Hades. He hardly had time to gather his breath to ask her what happened when her hand came flying out of nowhere. Her open palm struck him on the side of his face. The sharp slap of skin connecting angrily with skin shattered the air.
"What did you do with my daughter?!" Demeter shrieked with a shrillness that pierced his eardrums. Hades could hardly find it in himself to be angry. His hand went to the abused side of his face but a dark worry overshadowed everything else.
"What are you talking about?" He barked, unable to hide his concern. The way she stood there with eyes blazing told him that something was terribly amis and she found him to be the one to blame.
Nyx quickly jumped to her lord's defense.
"He did nothing! He has been here the entire time!" She was at his side in an instant, but Hades could hear that she was also worried. "What is the matter?"
Demeter clutched at her hair in anguish. She had the look of one lost to the throes of madness.
"Persephone! Persephone is gone! She vanished into thin air right before my very eyes! What did you do to her?!"
Persephone
The weight of the helm made her head and neck ache, but Persephone ignored the discomfort and raced through the palace as fast as her feet could carry her.
Invisible and unseen, as if she were made of air.
She did not want her mother to see where she had escaped to. She did not want her friends to follow her there. She did not even want Hades to find her.
Not until the deed had been done and nobody could do a single thing to undo it.
Panic drove her onward. The same panic that made her decide to trick her mother and give her the slip. Persephone was caught between two extremes.
Stay in the Underworld forever or stay in the land of the living forever.
Never see her mother again or never see her loved ones in the Underworld again.
Both options made her soul ache but a choice had to be made, and that choice was going to be hers.
Persephone had not been asked by any of them what she wanted. Not her mother. Not her Father. Not Hades. They had all decided for her what her fate should be. Should she not be the master of her own fate? Even if that fate was already carved in stone, should it not be etched there by her own hand and not by the hands of anyone else?
So, in a moment that would turn the tide of her life forever, Persephone had decided exactly what her fate was to be.
Her destination was the lush gardens that were nestled in the middle of Hades' palace. Persephone knew that she had only minutes to accomplish her task. Her sudden disappearance would surely alert the entirety of the palace and everyone would come looking for her. She picked up her pace and hoped that nobody would happen to run into her. The helm made her completely unseen but Persephone still feared that someone would somehow come and stop her.
Persephone breathed a sigh of relief once she made it to the gardens. Her feet crunched over the gravel path and the plants waved in the breeze that she left behind. She made her way through the winding pathway, leading her into the heart of the garden where a grove of pomegranate trees grew amongst the palms.
She came to a stop in front of one of the trees, making the gravel fly around her. Persephone ripped the helm off of her head, dropping it and letting it fall to the ground with a thud. She left it behind as it was now useless to her, running over to the tree. Its branches were laden with lucious, red fruit, drooping low and shining like rubies in the dusky light.
Her hand reached out and snatched the closest one. The fruit felt like a stone in her palm. A thought flashed in the back of her mind, asking if she truly wished for the consequence of what was about to come. The doubt did not linger for long. It was brushed away as quickly as it came, merely a candle in the wind.
Persephone had never been more sure of anything in her entire life.
Her fingernails dug into the skin of the fruit, easily breaking beneath her violent grip. She could not help the way her hands shook with nerves as she peeled back the skin, revealing the rich, red seeds hidden beneath.
The juice ran down her wrist. Crimson against white.
She picked out a small handful of the seeds; six in all. That would be enough.
This was the moment. These seeds were those jagged shears cutting that thread, holding her to the world of light and binding her to her fate forever.
Persephone wanted to decide her fate for herself. And she had chosen the darkness.
Without any hesitation, Persephone raised her hand to her mouth and let the seeds fall past her lips. The juice tasted tart on her tongue. She bit down on the seeds and felt a burst of sweetness that came behind the tartness. Her entire body shivered as the taste swept over her; this was the first time she had consumed anything in months and the sensation of taste was nearly intoxicating. Persephone closed her eyes and enjoyed the bitter sweetness of the seeds.
The taste of freedom.
She fell into a state of disbelief at what she had done but there was not a shred of regret to be felt. Persephone knew exactly what she had done. Eating the seeds bound her to the Underworld forever, but it was a fate that she gladly welcomed.
An intrusive noise interrupted the peace of the garden. Footsteps. Someone had found her.
Persephone did not care that she would be discovered. Her task had been done. Nobody could tell her what to do now. The Underworld was a part of her and nobody could take it from her.
She kept her back turned to whoever had been coming.
The footsteps were heavy. There were not that of a woman. These steps belonged to a man. A familiar presence swept over her; vivid and strong, as she had never felt his presence before. As if consuming food of the Underworld connected her to him since she was now completely one of his subjects.
"Persephone?"
His deep timbre was far more intoxicating than those bittersweet seeds. Persephone turned to him, everything around her feeling like a dream.
"Hades…" Persephone breathed in a state of awe. She took in the sight of him, standing a few feet away, seeing him as if she were meeting him for the first time.
But was not so enthralled as she. His face was twisted into a mask of shock. Dark eyes flickered to the open pomegranate on the ground, its seeds staining the gravel, and the red steaks on her palm and wrist.
"What have you done?" He asked with a strain to his voice, though he knew very well what had just transpired in the garden.
Persephone closed the gap between them. Hades watched her, mouth hanging open as if he could not believe what she had done.
"I consumed the fruit of the Underworld." She told him without a hint of remorse. Her voice was soft. Her posture was at ease. All was well in her world, while Hades visibly struggled to piece together the rapidly changing circumstances.
"What?"
Persephone came close—as close as they had been in the woods in a moment that felt like a lifetime ago. She rested her hands on his chest and leaned into him ever so gently.
"I bound myself to your world forever."
Hades was shaking his head but her nearness had the effect on him that she had hoped for. His breathing quickened and she saw his skin turn red beneath his beard.
The shock was starting to wear off. Something else was rushing to take its place. He dared to deepen their touch. He could not help it. One hand found a place between her shoulder blades while the other grasped her fingers.
A careful way to hold her; one that was hesitant to go further but held the promise of something more to come.
"Why?"
"Because not a single soul asked me what I wanted to do, or where I wanted to live, or who I wish to be. Not even you, Hades."
Yet even her gentle chiding could not keep her from leaning into him, pressing her body more into his.
"I decided that I had enough of everyone telling me what to do and I decided right here and now what I will do. I will not live under my mother's thumb. I will not comply with Zeus' ruling. My fate is my own. And I have decided that my fate is to be here and I will not be parted from all that I have come to love."
"Persephone…" His voice was husky, laden with desire as she stood pressed against him. "You do realize what this will mean for you?"
He was trying so hard to fight it—to do the proper thing and discourage her, chastise her, to be the gentleman and pretend that he was upset by her actions.
But she could see in his eyes that he was nowhere near upset. Not at all. That was the furthest thing from his mind. And she wanted him to break down those defenses and meet her where she was at.
"I do," Persephone said as she gazed into his eyes. "And it is what I want. Because, here in this darkness with you, I am free."
For a breath of a moment, Hades did nothing. His reaction was like a man turned to stone. He searched her face as that declaration sank in. She had allowed her true feelings to finally be brought into light.
But then Hades came to life.
His hand let go of her fingers to instead swiftly tangle into her hair. He grasped the back of her head and tilted her to look up at him. His other hand traveled down her back until he held her waist with a passionate grip.
What little space between them remained disappeared as he pulled her into him. Persephone gave a little gasp as their bodies melded into one another's, but she did not resist his urgings. Her arms snaked around his neck and she stood on her toes to bring her face as close to his as she could.
Hades dipped his head, lower, lower, lower, until he was but a breath away. She could feel the warmth of his mouth as it hovered so close, she could taste him.
"Persephone—" Hades growled her name, letting his lips graze her skin but not yet bringing them to complete the connection. He hesitated, giving her a chance to deny him if she so wished.
But Persephone did not wish for it. Her entire being ached for him.
"Hades…" She whispered back, her eyes fluttering closed as the alluring heat became too much for her to bear.
The sigh of his name was all that he needed.
With another growl that came out more as a groan, his lips fell to hers. Persephone melted as his mouth finally, finally met hers.
It was everything she had dreamed of and more. There was none of that hesitation, not a drop of confusion, she had experienced with another. Every part of her belonged to Hades as he lingered on her lips.
Her mind and her body were all his.
The silly kiss from before with another was long forgotten, as if it had never happened. It was nothing in comparison to the one who kissed her now.
All who mattered in this moment now was Hades.
She pressed herself seamlessly into him, wanting to bring herself as close as she could. Her fingers played with his hair and she drank in how it felt to be so free to touch him.
Yet there was only more to come. This was only the start of it and Persephone yearned for it. As did her companion. Hades did not let his kiss stay chaste for long.
He went to deepen the kiss. He parted his lips and let his tongue slide over her bottom lip, asking for entrance. The act sent shivers of the best kind down her spine.
Persephone sighed into his mouth as heat coursed through her veins. She shyly mimicked his movement and parted her lips, giving him permission for more.
Another groan left him. She felt it rumble from deep within his chest and reverberate through her own body. He slipped his tongue inside of her mouth and began to explore with a fervent need.
Persephone had no earthly idea what she was doing, but she followed his lead and moved exactly as he moved. The passion between them was her guide and she was eager to follow.
A sound came out of her. A soft moan to match his groan. Persephone had not meant to make that noise but she could not help herself. She had to do it. The way it made her feel only added kindling to the already roaring fire.
His hand at the back of her head held her as if she were the only thing keeping him alive. His other hand slipped lower down her waist, until he grasped the back of her hip.
His hand was hot. She could feel his heat seeping through the shockingly thin fabric of her robes. Nobody had touched her this way before and Persephone could not believe that his hand wandered so far in that direction. But she did not protest. His hand there felt so incredibly right. Especially when he gently urged her to press deeper into him, soft at first to give her room to resist, then more urgent as she made it clear that she enjoyed him doing so.
Hades suddenly pulled away from her lips, only to land heated kisses on her jaw. Persephone tilted her head back to give him more room. He muttered her name into her skin, leaving a sensual pressure on her neck with burning marks in the wake of his passion. More of those soft sounds of satisfaction left her as he kissed her with a hunger that she knew would never be satisfied.
The two of them stood there for what felt like an eternity, entwined and drinking in each other like two parched souls that had found a wellspring. Persephone had not experienced anything like this in all of her days. The exhilaration of this kiss left her breathless. Her mind was soaring to heights she never knew possible. He sparked a fire in her that she knew existed but never believed it would be ignited. It left her body burning from the inside out.
This right here and now, was her true first kiss.
Persephone never wanted the moment to end. She wanted to take it even further. She longed for his hands to go to places never before touched—places that she wanted to belong to Hades and Hades alone.
But that would have to come in time, for another set of footsteps interrupted them. They were rushing through the garden, coming straight to where they were hidden amongst the pomegranates.
Hades tore his lips from her neck with a growl of annoyance. They locked eyes. Hazel and charcoal. Both of them were panting. Breathless. Flushed. Persephone could feel his heart pounding. They took a moment to revel in what had transpired between them; giving themselves a chance to emerge from the heat before they faced whoever was coming.
Hades still held onto her and her own hands were not quick to leave him. Even as those footfalls came dangerously close.
"Demeter—she's coming—do you trust me?" He managed to ask between breaths.
"Yes—" Persephone said without any hesitation.
"Follow my lead. Try your best to act upset."
And with no further instruction, Hades untangled a stunned Persephone from his arms. She watched as he knelt down to the ground and snatched up the open pomegranate. He quickly placed it into her hands and whispered one last reminder to be upset.
Persephone took the pomegranate in her hand and tried to set her face into an expression of woe, but she found it difficult to do with the ghost of the kiss on her lips. She could not say what Hades had in mind as he turned his back to her to face her mother, who would be bursting through the foliage any second now. But she trusted him. She bit her lip to make her eyes sting with false tears and tried not to think about how her body still burned with the heat of their moment.
Sure enough, the sound of Demeter's voice calling Persephone's name sounded throughout the garden. Persephone tried to answer but her throat was too tight to make a sound. Hades clenched his hands into fists and he made sure to look as solemn as he ever did.
As if pulled by some invisible connection, Demeter rushed into the grove with a harried Hermes in tow. She took one look at the expressions that Hades and Persephone wore, and her face turned ashen.
"What is the meaning of this?" She exclaimed shakily, barely constraining her rage. "You told me that you had nothing to do with her disappearance, but I find you here with her! In secret!"
Hades did not flinch as Demeter came flying into the pomegranate trees. He stared down at her with a stony coldness that reminded Persephone of the time he had berated Acheron. Her body shivered and some of that lingering heat cooled.
"I know, Demeter. I did not lie when I told you that I had nothing to do with her disappearing," he said in a gravely voice, like two stones scraping against one another. There was nothing soft or remorseful in how he spoke to Demeter.
The goddess looked at the fruit in her daughter's hands, the helm on the ground, and then back at Hades. Her eyes narrowed and Persephone saw her mother shaking.
"Then, tell me what is going on now."
Her curt demand did nothing to shake Hades' resolve. If anything, he grew more stern. More cold. More unlike the man that Persephone knew.
It started to dawn on her…
He was putting on an act.
"I found her," Hades continued, even as Demeter grew visibly more upset by the second. "I knew that she possessed my Helm of Invisibility, so I followed her trail here to the garden. I could not bear to see her leave… so I deceived her. I had her eat the seeds of the pomegranate that she holds in her hands."
Persephone bit her lip harder to hold back the gasp of surprise that wanted to leave her. He was lying! Why? Just as quickly as the surprise came, she realized what it was that he was trying to do.
He wanted to take the fall for her. Hades heaped the blame upon himself so as to keep her mother from resenting her. That must have been it! Why else would he tell her to pretend to be upset. Hades knew her mother just as well as she did. If Demeter knew the truth of what Persephone had done—
It would tear her apart to know that her daughter—her little Kore— had gone to such lengths to forge her own path, especially a path that horrified and disgusted her mother.
But Persephone could not dwell on his actions for long. Demeter let out a shriek of anguish.
"You did what?!" She cried out before turning to her daughter. "Persephone, tell me that this is a lie!"
Three pairs of eyes were now upon her. Hermes looked as if he would never be able to close his eyes again, they were so wide and so full of terrified awe. Demeter was close to tears, desperate to hear that this was not the truth.
And Hades remained unreadable; stoic and dark as the night.
She gathered her wits, trying to act forlorn. Her breath filled her tight chest and despite the ache in her throat, Persephone managed to spit out a strained, false confession.
"No… it is not a lie. I ate the seeds."
The garden erupted with the sounds of vile curses directed at the god of the Underworld. Hermes shrank back into the foliage, trying to hide from the raging goddess as if he feared her ire would somehow blame him. Hades grimaced at the ugly words thrown his way, but he remained steadfast and mostly unmoved. Persephone now let that gasp break free as she heard her mother use words that she had herself been punished for daring to utter.
"Mother! Mother! Enough!" Persephone begged. She could not bear to listen to her speak to Hades with such hatred for something that he did not even do. Part of her half wanted to tell the truth, if only for her to stop having to listen to such abuse thrown at the man that she lo--
"Persephone! How could you let yourself be so foolish?" Now Demeter turned her anger to her daughter. She reached out and grabbed her by the arm, forcing Persephone to drop the fruit to the ground.
"Do you realize what this means?"
Persephone found herself speechless. She could only shoot an incredulous glare at the goddess. Why did everyone seem so keen on asking her that? Of course she knew what it meant! She was no longer an ignorant little girl.
"Yes. I do!" Persephone insisted. She ripped herself out of Demeter's grip. "I am not a fool, mother! What is done cannot be undone. The Underworld is my home now."
Demeter did not take well to Persephone's outburst. She never had been able to handle the spells of rebellion that her daughter often subjected her to. She reached out and grabbed Persephone once more and pulled her away from Hades.
"No! I refuse to believe it. Hermes!"
The young god was nearly lost to the foliage as he had hidden so deeply in the leaves. But Demeter's barking command made him snap to attention.
"Yes?" Hermes asked nervously as he emerged from hiding.
Persephone felt her mother trembling as she held her in a grip that was too tight to break free from.
"Take us to Zeus," her voice was on the verge of hysteria. "Surely he can put a stop to this!"
Hermes did not immediately obey. He looked over to Hades with a questioning glance. Demeter growled at him to do as she said, but Hermes did not move a muscle. He looked terrified of what he was being asked to do. Demeter was ordering him to defy the very workings of the Underworld.
Hades considered the god for a few seconds before something like resignation settled on his features. He frowned. His eyes were worried. But he conceded.
"Take her, Hermes. I think that all will be well," though he sounded doubtful. "The Underworld is her home now. She will find her way back to it. She cannot be kept from it now."
Demeter scoffed and yanked Persephone's arm, ignoring the goddess' protests.
"We will see about that!"
Persephone let herself be led away by her mother, but she could not help but break her facade. She stumbled away from the grove, her mother in front of her and Hermes on their heels.
"Hades?" She called back to him questioningly.
To her surprise, the god was following the trio. His steps were slow and there was a heavy stoop to his shoulders but as he looked at her, his eyes were vivid and alive. He came as close to her as he dared, walking just beside the blond young god.
"You will find your way back to my world," Hades tempted Demeter's wrath by daring to speak. "No matter what Zeus says."
Persephone took one last look at him before her mother pulled her away from the men behind them, telling her not to look back again. She did turn around and not glance back again, but not because her mother had told her so. She did not want to cast suspicion over them any more than it already had been.
Her thoughts turned to the apparent visit to Mount Olympus and her stomach twisted into knots. Persephone did not know how much Zeus could do about eating the fruit that bound her to the Underworld. Hades seemed troubled but he had promised…
She would return.
One way or another.
The eerie words of the Fates echoed across her memory. They promised that the darkness would be her fate. No matter what would meet them on Olympus, Persephone had no doubts that the world of shadow and death and dark would be her eternity.
AN — welcome to chapter 20, or what I like to call "family drama" and "a spicy scene that I very much enjoyed writing!" I know that kiss was probably a bit much but I mean, what have we been waiting 20 chapters and 3 years for ;) thank you for everyone who has read the story, and an especially big thanks to those who have stuck with me through the years! More chapters to come soon!