Chapter One (Persephone's POV)
Secrets
"Come here, come here
I have a secret to tell you
My love."
"Have you ever fallen in love Leuke?" I received an annoying giggle from the nymph as she desperately tried to brush out the knots in my red hair. We both agreed that trying to bath before the celebration of the New Year would be useless. Any dirt on my skin would be though as part of me since my skin was so dark that even Aphrodite and Hera envied it.
I sat, crossed legged, in the field of flowers, staring at the flowers. Bleeding hearts, daises, baby's breath, honey suckle, orchids, lilies, forget me nots, and somewhere far in the thick forest were my favorite flowers.
Roses.
The sky a pretty blue, but far away I can hear thunder from my father, Zeus, slowly boiling behind the white clouds. Today though, Helios rides his chariot high in the sky where my father can't even reach me.
"Why do you want to know, Kore?" She answered me finally after all the giggling. "Does the goddess of spring have her eye on someone? Hmm?" She listened carefully, waiting for my answer before painfully pulling my hair. "Demeter will be pleased that her daughter finally met someone! Though aren't you a bit young?" She sighed over dramatically before taking another huge gulp of air to continue. "Maybe Helios? Hmm, no I bet its Apollo!" I cringed at all the names that she suggested.
Leuke had always been my best friend on this lonely island that my mother put me on to keep me safe. She wasn't like the other nymphs who would huff at me if I ran in the mud or talked to the flowers. There was nothing wrong with that to her. She would break the rules to make me laugh and would play with me no matter what.
I loved her and knew she could be trusted with the fact that I was always curious.
Leuke rambled on how young I was before I finally interrupted her. "I'm just curious. Anyway," I turned to stare at her, "are you?"
Her beautiful moonlight colored hair glimmered in the sun and a smile broke her face. Her watery blue skin shimmered as if the mere mention of her love brought her to life.
Her amber eyes softened before answering me, "Why yes, Kore."
"Are you going to tell me who it is you love?" I really hoped that she wasn't going to make me play a guessing game.
She giggled again, "Yes, he's a very handsome god. He's your uncle, actually."
I closed my eyes and tried to recall these faces. There was my ill tempered uncle, Poseidon and then there was the quiet Hades. Neither one of these men seemed to be quite right for Leuke who would probably make Poseidon's temper snap, but Hades? That was impossible. I'm sure of it.
"Are you sure he's my uncle?"
Leuke nodded in full seriousness, "Yes, Hades is your uncle." I tried to hide my surprise, but from how Leuke pursed her lips I didn't do such a good job. "He's…not exactly what you'd expect, Kore. He's a very thoughtful and deep god." Another grin broke her face, "And he's a very good lover."
My curiosity peeked at this. My mother, Demeter, would never answer my questions on bed business and what exactly happens between lovers. She wouldn't let Aphrodite near me like she would poison my mind if she let two words fall from her mouth onto my ears.
"Lover?"
"Of course, Kore. He…" She eyed me before sighing in frustration. "You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?" I shook my head. "You don't even know what a kiss is, do you?"
"Sort of." I'd seen Zeus and Hera commit this act when they thought I was in another room with all the other gods.
She smiled again, "I better tell you so your husband doesn't scare you on the first night of marriage."
She leaned into my ear and whispered acts that I never known could be committed. I felt the color of roses stain my cheeks as she continued.
"That sounds painful!" I tried not to sound surprise. "He doesn't break you in two?"
"At first its painful, but you don't snap in two." Leuke braided another strand of my hair. Braids were always my favorite because they always made me feel wild and something that my mother couldn't control.
I looked at her through my bangs, "What else?" I knew she was leaving something out, but Leuke just smiles at me before her words slip into a soft lullaby. A small little lullaby that only she would know, but I saved these words in case I needed them. I bottle them up somewhere in the back of my mind and hide them away where even my mother can't reach them.
"Leuke, what did I tell you about doing her hair like that?" My mother hissed in distaste and embarrassment. Her green tunic was wrapped around her with vines blooming pink little flowers holding it together. She was a very beautiful woman with large breast and thick brownish red hair and bark dark skin. She always seemed the most beautiful to me, but I didn't say that out loud for fear of offending Aphrodite or Hera. They were easy to upset.
Mount Olympus was simply a large white palace with flowers and random pillars everywhere. Vines and other plants grew here, but to me this place was rather boring.
Athena refused to let me go anywhere near her library ("She's such a dirty child and I can't risk damaging such important documents, Demeter.") and Eris and Aris ("Come here, little Kore, let me show you how blood spills out when you cut a human's neck." Or "Let's get the humans worked up again, but this time I won't use those stuck up goddesses. They took out all the fun in Troy.") and as I said before, my mother won't let me go near my Aunt Aphrodite. Hermes would play with me when he had the time, but he always looked like he was itching to get out of there. Diana and Apollo just wanted to hunt, but Apollo had been nice enough to teach me how to hunt ("You are the most pathetic at times, Brother, she's not even a full grown woman"). Zeus and Hera were usually fighting or dealing with 'bed business' as everyone put it. Eros was the only other God who was a child like me, but he always acted like I was too good for him.
"Rose," Leuke called to me as I ran over to her. The nickname that she called me always made me giggle for no reason. Another little secrete that not even my mother knew. She took my chin and kissed the top of my forehead. "Now stay out of trouble when you're with Eros, you hear?"
"Yes, and Leuke?"
She smiled down at me before brushing a braid behind my ear, "Yes, little rose?"
"Don't tell mom about…the questions I asked, okay?" I blushed. The idea of my mother finding out about my curiosity scared me enough to live in the Underworld if I had to. She nodded and winked at me.
"You got it. Now go and find Eros."
"Are you going to find my uncle?" I asked in a low whisper, but she just smiled at me before telling me to run off.
The adults went to follow Dionysus to celebrate the good harvest that my mother had given the Earth and thus creating the wine Dionysus liked to get drunk on. The silver palace with gold and diamonds etched into the marble thanks to Hephaestus. I'm about to join my mother and Leuke when Eros grabs my hand.
I turn to stare at him. His usual blonde hair pulled back from his face and a strange smile appears on his face. His tunic draped over him, but today he is surprisingly barefooted which surprised me since Aphrodite went crazy over his looks just like my mother did with mine. I felt myself blush lightly as he tugs at my hand again. It's a game we've played once in awhile, but I never could tell when we were going to play or not.
I had two secretes now from my mother. One being what Leuke and I talked about and what Eros and I did when we had our time alone, but I felt a mixture of guilt and pleasure. We escaped into our garden where a broke fountain was (broken as in Dionysus couldn't hold wine in it anymore) and where statue stood of famous heroes that were from the mortal world. Vines crawled all over them since none of the gods or goddesses found it proper to take care of them. We got into the empty fountain and sat side by side for a moment.
"So," He began slowly in his silky smooth voice, "have you been practicing?"
I flicked my right wrist and blood red roses bloomed around us, but instead of thorn they had beautiful luscious leaves that tickled our skin in delight. Our game had always been like this. Testing our powers to the limits and see what we could do. Eros's powers always involved more of the emotions. I had never been drunk before, but I think it would probably feel like a warm fuzzy feeling in the stomach and strangely immobile except when he touched my hand to wake me up. Eros practiced on me sometimes, but he enjoyed messing with mortals the most like his mother. He liked seeing a girl's cheeks flush at a mortal boy who was beneath her rank. Meaning she was some princess and the boy would be some farmer or something like that. He liked pushing mortal's limits too. Mine was always with plants and I could change them or make them up.
"Yes, but can I ask you a few questions before we start?" I drew my knees to my chest and hugged them tightly. I was curious to be honest since Leuke described how a woman's body was supposed to act during certain events.
He leaned in with his chine resting on my knee, "What is it?"
"What does a kiss taste like?"
He blinked in confusion before bursting out into laughter, "Are you serious? Why don't you just go to the mortal world and just make some mortal fall for you?" I frowned. Of course he would say something like that.
"Is that what you did?"
"Of course I did! Mortals are easy to learn from. My mother does it all the time." He laughed, finding this the funniest thing in the whole universe. I stood up out of annoyance with my hands on my hips.
My face blushed furiously, "Maybe I'm not allowed to leave that little island my mother made for me."
"That's because she's afraid. You'll never find a husband with such a mother."
"She's not that bad! She just loves me."
"So much that she suffocates you." That was it! I was about to climb over the wall of the broken fountain when I heard a familiar giggle and Eros pulled me back in. I was about to smack him when he pressed his index finger against my lips. We both slowly peeked over the edge of the fountain.
I'd seen my uncle Hades a million times before, but now he looked so…different to me. His skin had always been pale like the moon was his sun. His ink black hair gracefully flowed over his shoulders freely and looked shinier in the light of Mount Olympus. His black tunic protected him from this light. I wondered how the rest of him would look in this light, but now I stopped myself from thinking such stupid thoughts.
Leuke was giggling and smiling just like Hades was (minus the giggling), but the stress of the underworld seemed to say heavily over his features still.
His deep voice made Eros and I both jump because neither of us had barely ever heard the god of death ever speak, "We really shouldn't…" He growled as I turned to Eros who shrugged at me. He had no idea what they were doing either. It must have been something forbidden if Hades was refusing.
"I haven't seen you in months Hades. It only makes sense…but we could fix that if you would take me to the Underworld." She played with a strange of his black hair. His smile fell off his face instantly.
He turned away, "You might die if you're far away from the sun too long. You'll turn into a tree…" He tenderly cupped her face and pressed his forehead against hers. "I can't bear to lose you."
Eros and I looked at each other again and did a double take of Hades. This was the all powerful god of the Dead. The god who protected the world from the dead where shadows loomed and monsters waited to eat even the immortals. He controlled all that was dark and dead, but he was afraid to lose a little nymph?
"Then kiss me if you don't want to lose me." She whispered in a tone of voice that I didn't recognize. It was a strange mixture of playfulness and…something else, but I could quite pin point it.
We both heard a lot of strange noises after that. Eros and I both pinned ourselves to the broken wall of the fountain. I felt the vines wrap around us as the noises got louder. Eros put his hands over my ears as I did to his ears. If something slipped through he would press harder and I would do the same.
We weren't this curious.
"Ouch!" I heard Leuke yelp as the other noises stopped.
I heard Hades's deep voice rumble, "What is it?"
"Something scratched me…" she lingered then gasped. "Oh gods no!" She screeched as she started to pull on the vines. I heard some of the vines cry out in pain from the nymph's attack on them. "Kore, I know you're here now come out!"
"Kore?" Hades's voice sounded panicked. "Kore as in Demeter's daughter?"
"Yes, I told you I was taking care of her when Demeter is out giving harvest to the mortals. Oh sweetie, please come out! This isn't funny!" I thought she would burst out into tears if I didn't come out soon. "She was curious about certain things…" She began to explain to Hades.
"Because her mother's protectiveness?"
"Yes and so I told her. She must have followed us out here out of curiosity." Leuke's voice choked with tears. "She was just…I felt…Oh my god! She's…Hades!"
"Shh," it was so weird to hear my uncle be so kind and gentle. "It'll be alright. I'm sure of it. Now lets find her and explain how she can't tell her mother about this. Kore is a very-"
"-wild child." She snapped. "I just felt so bad, but I should have known. She was never supposed to know. She's such a wild child. She'll end up alone if she keeps up her act much longer, but she's just so lonely. I thought I could help her."
I heard these words from my mother and other nymphs, but never from Leuke. She had been my best friend. She would get excited with me when we talked to that flowers and trees. She let me experiment with my powers, but now she sounded just like the rest of them. She sounded just like my mother and all the other nymphs.
I looked at Eros for help as he nodded. He would probably get in trouble too if we were found.
"Please sweetie, come on out." She begged louder before Eros and I both god up. I saw Leuke for the first time and all I could do was stare at her. Her silver hair was messed up and tangled with vines and her tunic slipping off her shoulders. Her cheeks were tear stained and her mouth was opened in a silent 'o'. Hades's tunic was barely clinging to his hips and his hair was also tangled with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes were wide with surprise.
Our hand interlocked as we stared at the two before I suddenly said, "I heard you…"
"I see that. You really scared me." She smiled, wiping her tears away. I watched Hades go in front of Leuke for her protection. "Hades, move." She looked confused at this gesture, but Hades knew what I meant when I said I heard you.
Eros tilted his head slightly, "We heard everything." He smiled the same way his mother did when she got jealous at a mortal and was going to get back at said mortal. "We're going now. I want to go see Egypt for a little while. I like the artwork there and the huge statues of Horus and stuff." He explained casually as he pulled me over the fountain.
"Kore." Leuke said slowly to get my attention, but I felt so numb. Wild child. "Kore, come here. We need to talk." I just felt so bad.
"No, I wanna go to Egypt."
"No Kore, we need to talk. Now." She reached out to grab my wrist.
Tears blurred my vision.
"NO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The vines that had once been screaming in pain were now blooming back to life. Roses bloomed all around us and I heard my uncle curse under his breath at the thorns that tore his skin. The smell of other flowers blooming poisoned the air around us. Leuke froze as I snatched my hand back. I heard the adults scurrying out of their party.
Eros revealed his large white feathered wings and he grabbed my hand before we vanished from everyone.
Sailor Ra: Kore is Persephone's first name before she was queen of the underworld. I actually changed a bit of the myth. Leuke was never a care taker of Persephone, but I think I saw it somewhere, but I'm not 100 sure so lets not state that I know everything (because I obviously don't). Eros and Persephone are never talked about as if they are friends, but I would like to think they were.
Remeber I own my verison of the gods and Goddesses (though Hades's verison isn't really all that clever, but I'd like to think that Kore/Persephone is).
I always give people a playlist of the songs I listen to if they are curious.
Playlist:
Everlasting Friend by Blue October
18th balcony by Blue October
Over my Head by The Fray