Kore watched time pass with confusion in her heart; she no longer knew what was right from what she was taught to believe. Even when she wandered through her fields of flowers, she felt a peculiar emptiness, as if something had been ripped away from her and had never grown back. Only then would she realize that she was no longer Demeter's child; only then would she consider the possibility of a life outside of her gardens.

When the nights came, she dreamed of Hades.

She could not place a word to it, but something about him had moved her deeply – still moved her. In the nights she could meet him at the river's edge, and there they would talk as if no time was passing. He offered her his hand and beckoned to her. As she reached to grab it, Kore's dreams would end and she would wake to the dull reality of her quaint home.

There were days when Hermes would visit and escort her to the regions near the mountains, places where her mother had not allowed her to see during her childhood. Kore appreciated him on those rare days, but he was only a momentary distraction from the emptiness. He would never know it, and perhaps it was better that way, but there was an invisible barrier between them that nothing could break through.

She preferred to walk alone.

Blackness. She had never stayed outside through the cool night, but the experience and the stark contrast of the stars against the moonless sky stunned her. Kore lay on her back and imagined the days when the gods had placed them in the sky; that had been before the creation of time, long before her birth. She longed to touch the stars and know that the night was a reality and not just another dream of beauty after Olympus had changed her.

"I never thought I would see you again, fair Kore."

She recognized his voice instantly by the softness of it; she had longed to hear it for so long. "Are you really here, Lord Hades, or is this simply a dream?"

Kore heard the rustling of grass beside her. She looked to see him appear from nothing to lay at her side, dressed in black deeper than death, eyes glued to the sky above them. "If there is a such thing as reality, my dear, than I can promise you that this is real."

"I – I thought I would never see you again..."

Hades smiled. "Nothing is so permanent. I came to find you, to take you to the place where you belong. Would you walk with me?"

She agreed without hesitation.

Hades remembered the last walk they had taken as if it had been moments ago. This time, the scent of summer filled the thick air around them; the light of fireflies flickered in the distance. He was able to guide Kore through the darkness with his senses alone, though she seemed familiar with the land. He knew that she was innocent and unaware of what he had in store for her; he knew that she would miss her home dearly.

He was so very lonely.

The darkness opened at his command and enveloped them in an instant; time stopped to become a passageway to the place where life was meaningless. The darkness ripped through them, and the world was gone, reduced to nothingness.

They were in the underworld.