AN: this will be the last chapter but I plan on posting an epilogue so expect another chapter…. I'm so sorry for the very very very late update…..I was ridiculously busy with school and of course, it was a difficult chapter to write since I can't really decide how to end it….

So enjoy I guess and I hope you like it…I shall be eagerly waiting for your reviews…thank you very much…I love you all!

Prologue to the end

Hades sipped on his goblet and leaned back on his chair and relived the moments that made him choke with self-loathing.

You have taken my love away.

I have made everyone suffer as I have. I did not touch you for him.

Everything she said felt like venom and yet, he saw, through her blind rage, all the pain hidden behind her eyes.

Agony.

What has he done? The full impact of everything he did hit him now. It felt like the flames of Tartarus threatened to engulf him. It felt like a giant just swung a full-forced blow on him. It felt like he was hit with a thunderbolt and yet, he had a feeling that even taking on such pains literally would not be enough. Nothing would ever be enough.

The sheer weight of his unforgivable actions blew him away. He has never been one to lose control, or fail or even feel regret. Yet, there he was, accomplishing those things that should be absent at the advent of his being the Lord of the Underworld.

But he was not stupid. He can never fully understand. He knew that. No matter how much he would loathe himself, how much worse he felt, he cannot truly gauge the anguish he has caused.

And it made him reel into self-contained and self-directed fury.

He closed his eyes and hoped for sleep.

Her reflections were surprisingly parallel to his. Only, in her case, it meant a whole lot more. It could be dangerous or unmistakably painful.

He would never understand. She knew that. And why she would bother to wish he could, she did not know.

Her husband has been cold; he has lived in different circumstances and lived with a solitude that was almost heartbreaking, although why she even thought of justifying him now was utterly martyrdom on her part.

She knows that she should be consumed by wrath. She even thought that a rampage of torture all over the Underworld would be fine-she was so sure her subjects would even allow her to do that and they could reason out for themselves. She also knew the gods would leave her alone and that she should go about her business, gallivanting in the presence of other younger and more agreeable gods.

But she didn't. She simply cannot stand that. She can glare all she wanted and punish him in ways but her mind would still tell her that all she wanted was to lean into Hades and cry and never let go.

She sighed, resigned to her dilemma.

It couldn't be easy. It was a fight between justifiable anger and unconditional love and she cannot help but wince at the thought that the latter was winning.

And her talk with Lady Aphrodite did not ease that burden. And then, a painful tug in her chest evened out the odds.

Pain and betrayal. A whole eternity's worth.

She did not know what to do.

The Time's Flame

"The flame of our love will never die, for it burns through the stars for eternity."

--

"I see you are feeling well. Do you need anything," Hades asked as he met her in one of his vast halls.

"All I need is to be left alone."

"Persephone let me do anything for you."

"I do not need any of your favors."

Her eyes glinted with tears that were threatening to fall.

"Persephone, hurt me if you must, shout at me, do anything, just do not continue ignoring me."

"Your voice remains as cold as your heart. I am capable of no such things. How can you insult me now?"

"Forgive me."

Persephone shook her head gently in frustration. She left things as they were and took a step past Hades but he gently held onto her arm.

"What is it you need Hades," Persephone asked in aggravation.

His voice was soft and his hand was warm. "I need my wife. I need my wife to tell me she forgives me."

"Then pray to the gods Hades," she replied just as softly as she tugged her arm back and hurried to her chamber.

"My heart feels such anguish."

"Is it my daughter? Is my daughter hurt again?"

"Your daughter will never be hurt again," Aphrodite replied calmly.

"How can you say that?"

"He will not have it."

"Then why is my daughter in anguish?"

"Because of the pain."

"Lady Aphrodite, why would my daughter have to go through such things?"

"Your daughter's heart will heal itself," she said, never looking at Demeter. "It is because she knows what forgiveness is about. Only hearts that do not know of this thing will remain broken."

"My dear Kore," Demeter said softly.

"Kore will be well. And Lord Hades, he never forgot of his love for her."

"Lady Aphrodite, accept my gratitude for everything you have done for me and my daughter."

"I have done nothing," she said quietly, now looking at the goddess of harvest.

"And that means everything," Demeter replied.

The Dark Lord walks through the great green plains of Elysium.

The birds sing sweetly and the breeze is cool. The sweet scent of blooming flowers fill the air and the sunlight reveals the place's splendor.

But he ignored it all. He looks in the distance to a beautiful form caressing a great tree as the bundles of flowers surround her. Her hair sways with the wind in quiet magnificence.

It was a perfect picture that he could gaze at forever.

If only her eyes were not sad.

She knows he is coming but her back remains turned.

She does not want to look at him because she did not know how she would receive him.

With every breath, he takes a step closer.

He is too close now that she can feel his breath in her hair.

"Can you tell me how you can forgive me?"

Persephone looked at Hades with sad eyes.

"Do you not think you have to learn that by yourself?"

"Do you still love me?"

She looked at him in reproach.

"Can you not see that?"

Hades touched her arm but she gently pushed him away.

"Do not Hades. Your touch fells like a burn to my skin, your mere voice tortures me so please, leave me to my thoughts and leave me to my sanctuary."

Hades took a small step back.

"Am I now that vile that you cannot stand my presence?"

"Go on, touch me and speak sweet words to me and make me remember everything."

"Persephone," he said gently.

"Every time you do things for me, I always remember and I relive the pain all over again. You have done the same things for her and my heart aches for every second that I remember."

Hades reached out a hand to Persephone's now tear-stained cheeks and brushed a tear away.

"I have never brushed her tears away," he said with a face that betrayed nothing but with a voice so thick with emotions. "I have never looked her in the eye and told her that I loved her."

"How can I believe you now?"

"You do not have to believe me."

He moved his hand to cup her face. "But I have to tell you."

"Do not. If you plan to lie then let me plead Hades. Have mercy on me."

Hades stroked her hair as tears continued to flow down her ivory cheeks. Her emerald eyes were blurred not only with tears but with pain and longing.

"I do not plan to lie. My dear Persephone, forgive me, I cannot stand your tears."

"You were willing to set them aside when you were with her," she said with a slightly accusing tone. "I have cried rivers of tears and you were never there, because you were with her."

"Persephone…"

"You have raised your voice against me, you have affronted me. You did all that for her."

"I know and I regret everything I have done."

"I have done nothing yet you chose to look at another. How could you do that to me?"

The white leaves of the white poplar fell down, as if weeping with its mistress.

"I am sorry."

Persephone let herself fall to the ground-as she did many times in her moments of anguish. The ground would always cushion her fall, all Elysium would always be there for her and it was no different this time.

Her hand cupped her face. They muffled the sobs that she released. Every tear was as painful as before, she was remembering everything. Memories flooded her mind and she felt the same sorrow and grief and so she wept as much as before.

Hades kneeled down. He moved slowly and hesitantly. He merely looked at her as she sobbed, unsure of what to do and what to say. He would certainly not justify his actions. He would certainly not reason out. All he could do was tell and show her how much he loves her.

He reached out a hand once again to pull her hands away from her face.

"My love," he said.

Persephone refused to look at him so he tilted her face gently so his eyes would be looking directly into her emerald orbs.

"My love," he repeated, "listen to me."

Persephone was still crying but now she was looking at him.

"No one can ever take your place. No one can ever smear the love I have for you. I am erroneous in every sense, such madness overtook me. I have chosen lust over love and I know it is such an impertinent thing to do. "

Her sobs grew louder, her cheeks and eyes grew redder with each passing minute.

"Persephone, I love you above everything else. My heart will never forget how it felt the first time I saw you. My dear Persephone, you must know that I am yours forever. In my whole existence, you were the only one that I have truly loved. "

Hades bowed his head, breaking eye contact. He kissed Persephone's hand in an agonizingly slow manner and knelt. She had to look away to stop herself from raising him from his position and assure him that she forgives him. But she cannot possibly do that so she refused to look at him.

Love is never selfish.

"I do not ask you to forget but simply to forgive. If you cannot do it now then I will wait."

Love is patient.

He rested his head on her lap, careful not to muffle his words. For the first time, she looked at his kneeling form. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the scene. Her husband was submitting himself to her. The God of The Underworld is pleading for her forgiveness. And against her better judgment, all the love she has rushed back to her heart and her mind. Her hand hovered above his back, longing to touch him and comfort him.

He kept his face hidden, careful not to betray the torture he feels and the reprimand he is thinking to himself for being so vulnerable.

"And if it takes you an eternity to forgive me then I will not mind, I will love as fervently and I will pursue you as passionately."

Love is always persistent and encompassing.

Her small hand pat his back hesitantly then it landed fully just below his shoulder.

"Hades," she said feebly, violent tears pouring down her face. She stroked his dark hair, slowly, achingly, as she tried to calm herself.

"Hades," she repeated softly after she was calm enough not to shake with her fierce weeping.

Hades could not look up. She was crying again and it was because of him. He did not want to look at her because by the sound of her voice, she is willing to forgive him and right now, he did not want her to do so. He wanted her to reproof him further, to hurt him, to let him feel the brutal consequences of his actions. He tightly squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip.

How can she forgive me now? She cannot, she must not…

He dared not raise his head, he cannot be forgiven so easily.

"Hades," her soft voice called once again, his heart twisting with every gentle caress of her hand on his back.

"Do not forgive me," he said as he held onto her flowing robes with his head still resting on her lap.

"Do not let me off so easily," he said with such conviction and anger directed toward himself, "you must not."

"My love," she said softly, her words piercing Hades, "what can I do?"

"Please, you cannot do this," he pleaded, his voice, betraying his rarely-seen emotions, "please."

"Come now Hades," she said as she put her hands on his shoulders and gestured for him to face her.

"I do not deserve this Persephone," he said in command. Any other would have flinched in fear at the Dark Lord's voice but Persephone simply touched his hand and smiled and if he was not Hades, he would have cried.

"Why," he said with such confusion that she could not help but smile.

"Because……I love you, you have taught my heart how to do so. How can my heart rest without you by my side?"

Hades eyes slightly widened. Those were his very words to the goddess of love when he asked for her help.

"I am sorry Persephone," he said as he engulfed her in a tight embrace, at a loss for other words .

Hecate was right. Persephone's heart was pure and she never deserved anything he did. And now, since she has forgiven him so easily, all he could do was assure her that he will never commit such mistakes again.

"I swear by everything Persephone, it will always be you, there will never be another."

"Please Hades," she said softly, her head in his chest, "do not put me through such pain again."

"Do not plead my love; I am at your disposal."

It occurred to her at that very moment that all the pain and torment she had once thought he should feel were all forgotten. But somehow she knew that she cannot allow such things to happen. Hades had his share of pain. She loved him. And she knew, above all that to replace pain with pain would just hurt them both and she cannot stand that.

I love him.

She did.

Hades stroked her hair in an attempt to comfort her. His wife, no matter how everyone thinks, is still but a child. She was vulnerable and fragile no matter how strong she presents herself. It pained him to know that he was the one who broke her, that he had to be the one to expose her to such cruel reality, to such tainted things as lust and infidelity.

I love her.

He always had.

The Spring has reached its height.

Everything is now beautiful.

The world glowed, the birds sang beautifully, the flowers bloomed vigorously, the wind blew joyfully.

It was the most beautiful Spring.

AN: comments? Violent reactions? Say it so in a review!

Thank you!