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This may seem like a filler chapter but it will be significant enough

Splintered Light

"... See there's this place in me where your fingerprints still rest, your kisses still linger, and your whispers softly echo. It's the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me."
--Gretchen Kemp

"Do you know what hurts me so, dear Hecate?"

"Child," Hecate said, using the endearment she had used on her so long ago," tell me."

Persephone's face was strained and she looked tired.

"It is that through everything, I still cannot stop blaming myself."

"Child," Hecate said gently as she clasped Persephone's hand,"it is not what hurts you the most."

"Hecate…"

"What hurts you the most, young Persephone is that your love for him remains as it was. And that it never swayed, it was never forgotten."

"Hecate, I do not know what to do."

"Dear child, all you have to do is forget."

"And that is the most challenging thing to do Hecate."

She looks at him with contempt.

He will have to suffer as I have.

He will feel my pain.

"My lady," Marpessa said, "will you not eat?"

"I will, Marpessa."

She took her fork and started to eat. Marpessa shook her head; her mistress was seemingly in a trance and by the look in her eyes, it was not good.

Hades flinched at the tension. It was thick and suffocating and his wife looked at him with unmistakable hatred.

He turned his attention back to his food.

I deserve this.

"Kore!"

The Oceanids ran to their friend whom they have not seen for so long.

"Dear Kore!"

Persephone smiled gently, her friends were as endearing as ever. They flocked around her and gave her hugs and told her they missed her.

"Dear Kore, how have you been," the eldest of them asked.

"I have been," Persephone paused," busy."

"Of course, dear Kore, you are now a Queen."

They continued to smile at her as she reciprocated all their warm gestures.

"My dear friends, I have missed you so."

"As we have," they replied.

"Come now, it has been so long since we have gathered flowers together."

They took her hand as she ran with them, her flowing robes dancing with the breeze.

She looks at her dear Oceanids, playing and happy. She missed those days when everything was so perfect, when everything was so light and innocent.

In the Underworld, all her bright views of the world have shattered, replaced by a new, unnerving reality.

She has never faced such grim facts as she has in the Underworld. And yet, she does not regret it nor does she think of the Underworld as ugly. It was simply a darker, mystical, more profound beauty. It was beautiful as the moon is to the sun.

The Underworld was where she found love.

And where I might have lost it.

Without noticing, she has strayed-again. It was this way that she was abducted, all because she strayed far from her friends. And as she heard the leaves rustle more than necessary, she moved so fast out of reflex more than anything. It was ridiculous to think she will be abducted again.

But before she was able to run away, a soft voice called her name.

"Persephone."

She looked back, no other god or goddess called her Persephone except Hades or Hecate. She then saw that it was Aphrodite.

"Lady Aphrodite. It is a surprise to see you."

The goddess of love just looked at her, smiling.

"Indeed it is a surprise to see you too."

Indeed Persephone was a queen but in the presence of the other goddess, she felt feeble and ordinary.

It was Aphrodite who took the initiative. She walked toward the Underworld's Queen, with every step, flowers sprung happily.

The goddess was still smiling cordially that Persephone cannot help but return the act.

"Child," she said when she was close enough, "come walk with me."

Aphrodite laughed lightly at Persephone's slightly suspicious look.

"Child, I guarantee I will play no tricks on you."

"No, Lady Aphrodite.."

"Come child, do not ask for my pardon."

She stretched her hand and Persephone slowly and hesitatingly put hers in it.

"Let us walk," she repeated softly.

"Would you rather if I call you Queen," Aphrodite asked.

"No my lady, call me as you please."

"Child, I would call you so because you are a lot younger than me."

Persephone looked at the orchard they were walking on and knew that Aphrodite did not only refer to mere years.

"Of course, my lady."

Aphrodite gestured Persephone to follow as she saw a fallen tree. She sat on its huge trunk as Persephone followed suit.

"It is a beautiful day," Aphrodite said.

"Indeed my lady."

"We owe it to you."

Persephone flushed at the statement.

"I have a son," Aphrodite started, which made Persephone look at her, puzzled.

"I have a son," she continued, despite the goddess' motion beside her, "his name is Aeneas and I love him more than any other mortal alive. Do you know why child?"

"Tell me, my lady."

Aphrodite's eyes looked in the distance.

"Because he treated me not as a goddess, but as a mother. I loved him so that I strode in the battlefield in his defense, as he was mortally wounded. I have felt great pain that day as a mortal stabbed my wrist."

"That is truly noble my lady."

"They have laughed at me," Aphrodite said softly ,"just because I have showed my love for my son, they mocked me. But my son, he will avenge my honor."

"That is very well my lady."

"Did you know that Hephaestus is such a melodramatic god," Aphrodite said, beginning another story.

"He would wait up for me even though I never come home and tell me, all the time that he loved me."

"It is a lovely gesture my lady."

"I treat him like rubbish but still, he is contented."

"My lady…"

Aphrodite's eyes showed a very slight hint of sadness but she was still smiling.

"A god came to me once," she said again, moving on to her next story, Persephone still looked confused.

Why does she say these things to me?

"He was a feared, venerated, despised god. Everyone turned away from him, they all deemed him unable to love and have mercy. I was one of those who thought of him that way too. Do you know what he asked of me?"

"What was it my lady?"

"He asked me to make a goddess fall in love with him."

"What did you do my lady?"

"I told him that it was impossible. Their echelons are of opposite poles. It was like asking the sun to shine its light at night. But he told me: I love her, she has taught my heart how to do so. Lady Aphrodite, how can my heart rest without her by my side?"

Aphrodite smiled at the fond memory.

"I was overwhelmed by such emotion. It was very intense. He was so passionate in his words. That god would put me to shame."

"What happened then my lady?"

"I gave him a flower with a beauty so irresistible that it would stand out even within a field of the most beautiful of its kind."

Aphrodite then procured a flower in her hand and Persephone's eyes widened in realization. It was the same flower that led to her abduction.

"I have always thought about my decision in helping that god but when I saw him again, holding the love of his life and standing in defiance, I knew I was right."

"My lady, why do you tell me this?"

Without noticing, Persephone suddenly had tears in her eyes.

"Child, here, have this."

She gave the beautiful flower to Persephone.

"All I want to tell that is that Love is never selfish."

"As it is with your son?"

Aphrodite smiled and continued," Love is patient."

Persephone nodded slowly in understanding.

Aphrodite, who up till now looked far away, faced Persephone.

"And love is always persistent and encompassing. I have learned that the moment I looked at that god's eyes one fateful day in Olympus." Saying so, she took Persephone's hands in her own and squeezed them gently. She looked at her with slight pity and pride.

"It is beautiful," Persephone said, referring to the flower in her petite hands.

"Indeed it is," Aphrodite agreed kindly, releasing her grasp on the younger goddess' hands, "child, it is my time to go."

Aphrodite started walking away but Persephone called out to her.

"Lady Aphrodite!"

"Yes?"

"Thank You."

"Just remember everything I have said Child."

Persephone just looked on at Aphrodite's retreating back.

"You will never believe who I run into, my son."

Eros' brows furrowed in confusion.

"Who is it mother?"

"It was young Persephone."

"Lady Kore?"

Aphrodite nodded.

"What have you done mother?"

"Ah, dear child, you doubt your own mother. I have simply helped her to take heed of her emotions."

Eros shrugged his shoulders. His mother was acting differently these days but he dared not question her anyway so he remained silent.

AN: please do review! and, if you're interested, I'll be posting an Aphrodite/Hephaestus side story (probably drabble-ish) on my LJ along with a short preview of the next chapter.

Thank you so much!