Chapter 31

Hades

I didn't see Persephone at first. Then I noticed her standing under the pomegranate tree, holding half a pomegranate in her hand and raising a seed to her mouth.

"Stop!" I cried without thinking. She turned with a start, dropping the seed and the pomegranate. "Don't eat that."

"Hades-"

"If you eat that, you'll never be able to leave the Underworld again."

Why was I telling her this? Isn't this what I wanted?

No, I realized. It isn't. What I wanted was her love given freely and unforced. Since I wasn't going to get that, I didn't want a cheap imitation.

Persephone walked over to me, then did something that gave me the biggest surprise of my life. She put her arms around my neck and laid her head against my chest. I stood there, unable to move.

"I know," Persephone whispered. "Aspasia told me."

I started to say something, but she put a finger to my mouth, stopping me.

"I need to tell you something before another word is spoken. I love you. I don't want to go back to my mother or back to that old life. I want to stay here with you. I was looking for some way to hide when Aspasia told me about the food in the Underworld."

She lifted her face up towards me and, in a daze, I noticed that her lips were already stained red from the pomegrante. She pulled my face down to hers and kissed me. It was everything that I had wanted from the start: full of love and trust and a mutual need for one another. For a moment, I forgot all my pain and hurt.

But then that moment ended. I pulled away from her.

"That's the pomegranate talking, not you. And even if it was you, you can't just expect everything to be alright now, Persephone. We both have said and done things that can't be taken back. I'm sorry, but this is done."

I looked down at her regretfully. She looked more stunning than I had ever seen her before. I longed to let myself give in, but I knew that I was right. I pulled her arms off of my neck, and she didn't resist. Even still, I didn't leave right away. Was I really ready to give up everything I had worked for for months?

I already made my decision, I reminded myself. I hardened my heart and walked away.

"I knew that I loved you before I ate," she said, grabbing my forearm, "The pomegranate had no effect on my feelings for you. And besides, I refuse to believe that someone would go through hell for another person only to give them up. I'm not saying that we can start over, but we can start again, and this time you won't be the only one trying. I promise."

There was a long pause in which neither one of us moved.

"So, you found out about the Furies?" I finally asked.

"I did."

Another long silence.

I sighed, exasperated, and folded my arms. "Persephone," I said, talking slowly to prevent myself from making any more hasty decisions, "even if we wanted to try this again, Zeus wouldn't let us."

Persephone smirked and somehow got a hold of one of my hands. In spite of myself, I allowed her to. I even took a step closer, so close that our bodies were only a hair apart.

"You can't get rid of me that easily." Persephone whispered up at me. "There's nothing that Zeus can do now that I've eaten food from the Underworld. Don't lie to me, because I know I'm right. I want to spend my life here with you."

That made me step back again.

"It won't be much of a life. You're dying."

The words came out blunter than I had meant them and hung in the air between us. A heavy, painful sigh escaped me as I confessed,

"I-our god powers aren't just an extension of ourselves, Persephone, they are us. We embody them, and they give us godhood. Mine is the power of death. I can kill anything. That is the true reason that the pantheon hates me; I am the only true threat to their power. I used that power on your god-power, and I might as well have used it on you directly. I'm sorry, but...you'll be dead and soulless in less than a month."

Saying those words forced me to face their reality more completely than I had before. Persephone, the bright and beautiful Spring, would be dead by my hands. Dead with no hope of redemption for herself or me.

As I expected, Persephone was crying, but not the wails that I had expected.

"I won't pretend..." Persephone took several shaky breaths to steady her quivering voice, "I don't want to die-"

"I didn't mean to," I interjected quietly. Even to my ears, the words sounded weak and inadequate. Meaningless.

"But," she continued, "I would be honored-no, grateful-if I could stay here with you before I am gone forever."

What could I say to such a request? What answer could I give, but yes? I could not grasp, however, the idea that I was her choice of companionship for her remaining life. I, the one who had cut off that life prematurely.

"You really want to stay here-with me?" I asked in disbelief.

Persephone nodded.

That was it. To Zeus with caution. I couldn't deny the woman who was willing to give up everything for me. My arms moved of their own accord as they wrapped themselves around Persephone and held her close. I reached my hand up and stroked her hair.

It was jet black.

My lips moved to hers, and I kissed her with all the desire that had been building up over my long years of solitude. She met my kiss with the same passion. I kissed her lips, her eyelids, her neck, wishing with a regret that cut my soul that we had time to just be together.

We stood like that, time meaning nothing, for what seemed like an eternity. I eventually broke away from her.

"We have to go. They're expecting us in Olympus."

Persephone pursed her lips together, but nodded. Then, with my arm securely around her waist, I went to stables and ordered my chariot. Persephone clung to me with the same desperation that I felt as I held her close.

The whole mountain was deadly quiet and there was not a soul to be seen as we made our way up to the large Pantheon. We entered the long throne room. Zeus sat on his golden throne, with Demeter on one side and Hermes on the other.

Demeter gave a cry at the sight of her daughter, and rushed towards her. Sobbing, she embraced Persephone. Persephone coolly embraced her and pulled back, to Demeter's surprise.

"Kore! What's the matter? What happened to your hair? Aren't you glad to see me?"

"I'll always be glad to see you, mother." Persephone's voice was warm, but it had none of the relief and joy that Demeter was expecting. She opened her mouth to reprove Persephone, but Zeus cut her off.

"Hades! I'm glad you saw reason and brought the girl."

Zeus looked older than he did the last time I had seen him. Not that his face looked any older, but there was a new weariness in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Yes, I brought my wife, but I haven't seen reason." I looked over to Persephone, who smiled. I drew strength from her. "I refuse to give her back. Her rightful place, as my wife, is beside me."

Zeus's face was forbidding, but I didn't stop. "More than that, I am not able to give her back. She has eaten a seed of a pomegranate tree that grows in a garden by my palace."

"Actually," Persephone interjected, "I ate six seeds, and I did so of my own free will."

Neither of us mentioned that Persephone was dying.

Demeter gave a gasp and began to hyperventilate. I noticed that, though her movements were flighty and gave the impression of a loss of control, Demeter's eyes were hard as stone. This was a master actress at work.

Zeus looked at Persephone, judging the sincerity of her words. It was obvious that she was speaking the truth. Anger burned in Zeus's eyes when he realized that he had been thwarted. I smiled in victory. There was nothing Zeus could do now.

"Demeter," Zeus's voice was dangerously low, "take your daughter and leave. I declare that Hades is no longer Lord of the Underworld, and I banish him from ever returning there."

"You can't do that!" I exploded. Unthinkingly, I charged towards Zeus's throne. Zeus rose to meet me, a lightning bolt forming in his hand.

"Can't I?" He thundered. "I am the King. Not you!"

I found myself physically unable to move from the spot that I was at, just a few feet from Zeus. Zeus seemed to have something similar happening to him, though I didn't know what power could command two gods in this way.

"Why, Zeus? Ask yourself why you are king?" I shouted, fighting against whatever was holding me in place. "Because you earned it? No! I gave up the crown to preserve the peace. I gave it up because I knew that if I did not, there would be another war, and it would tear the world apart."

"You were never fit to be king!" Zeus bellowed over me. "Nor were you fit to rule the sky. Koalemos, Hades! You killed even the titans with a touch."

"I swore off using that power, Zeus, and I keep my word."

"You think you would," he spat at me. "But your temper is famous. How long do you think you could have lasted under the pressures of kinghood before you snapped? How long could you have stood the endless petitions and the endless demands that ruling the sky brings? You would have ended up in that pit one way or another. Do you think that anyone wanted you to rule them? Do you think that they even wanted you near them?"

"You bribed the rest of the pantheon, whether you choose to admit it or not. There were plenty of gods that would have supported me to be king, because it was just. You knew this, I knew this, but I loved peace more than I lusted for power. I didn't want to spend eternity ruling. All I asked for in return was sky. You swore, remember Zeus? You swore, on Mother Earth herself, that it would be mine.

Zeus had sat back down heavily in his throne. Demeter and Hermes looked astounded at this revelation. That was a weighty accusation, one the no one else known about this.

Persephone walked up behind me and took my hand, concern showing in her face. I drew to a close, my voice was quieter, but still strong.

"You broke your vow, the vow made on Mother Earth. You broke the most sacred vow that any person can make, because you were unsure that you were able to rule with strength. You were afraid that if I stayed around, I would take your throne from you."

The throne was as silent as the grave for three heartbeats.