Chapter 22:

In his slumber, Hades sees her.

"Will you forgive me?" he asks. He feels Cronus's black whispers in the back of his mind, She will never forgive you, Aidoneous. He clenches his teeth and asks her again. "Will you forgive me, Calliope?"

They're in Elysium; her back his facing his, raven-black hair flowing behind her. "I forgive you," she says. Her voice travels through the air, wrapping around him and reverberating through him. "But do you forgive yourself, Hades?"

He looks down. "I…feel like such a mortal." He walks up to her and leans his head on the crook of her neck. "I've missed you…"

She turns to face him and smiles. "I know." Her hand reaches up to cup his face. "You need to let go, Hades."

"I can't…"

She rubs her thumb on his cheek. "My love, you must – Cronus will succeed in gaining control over you if you do not let go of your anger and pain."

He closes his eyes. "The curse."

Memories of the Fates' words crawl back into his mind. "Your curse is a physical manifestation of all of your negative emotions, Lord Hades - this is what causes your pain… You already know the cure."

"I've made a mistake, Calliope," he whispers.

Calliope lightly kisses his lips, "She will forgive you."

"…But will she ever love me?"

Calliope smiles at him as her form begins to dissipate and turn into mist around him. "Wake up, my lord," she says, "She is waiting for you."

His eyes close and his chest rises, taking in a deep breath as he feels the last bits of her presence circle around him.

She wakes up before he does.

She sits up slightly and looks at his face, flinching at the memory of the questions he had asked:

"'A man such as me'? Am I only a horrible monster in your eyes?"

Persephone guessed that he had probably not meant for the second question to come out. It did anyway.

"I've been angry with you, but…I don't think you're a monster, Hades," she whispers. I don't think I ever did, she thinks.

She sees his eyelids flutter.

He is still asleep.

Persephone looks at his calm sleeping face and makes a choice. She leans in and kisses his lips. She grins – he's still asleep.

She kisses him again, this time on the corner of his stubbled jaw, kissing a trail up to his mouth. She abruptly stops when she feels one his hands on her face. Looks like he's awake now…Her cheeks heat up.

When he first woke up, Hades wasn't sure what was going on. In his groggy, half-asleep state, he had been vaguely aware that he was feeling the familiar and pleasant sensation of a kiss, but when he woke up, he thought he was hallucinating…

"Persephone…what are you doing?" The skin of her cheek under his palm is soft and silky.

Her face heat up some more, but she smiles up at him, green eyes playful and shining. "Kissing you," she replies.

He swallows. Why is his throat so dry? "Oh, is that all?" He moves his hand from her cheek to her hair. His fingers run through it – it too is soft and silky.

"Yes," she says, leaning in closer.

He looks back into her eyes – green and blue are staring each other down. He cups her face in both of his hands. "If that's all…then you wouldn't mind doing it again, would you?"

She smiles down at him. "Of course not." She leans down again and tries to kiss him on the cheek, but he turns his head to capture her lips.

And they stay like that for a minute, neither one moving; lips lightly touching lips, until Persephone makes a movement – unintentionally – and ends up slightly licking his lips. Hades' breath hitches and he deepens the kiss, running his fingers across her cheeks and through her hair. She straddles her legs across his hips to get into a more comfortable position.

His hands move down to her waist and roam up and down her sides. She lightly nips his bottom lip in response and feels him smile against her mouth.

She decides to put a lesson she learned from Aphrodite to good use and moves from kissing his mouth down across his jaw and to his neck. She grins when she hears him gasp in response, hands on her hips tightening their grip. She's still kissing his neck when he rolls them over.

His eyes are dark and he's slightly out of breath, but got a small smile on his lips.

Persephone thinks he's the greatest thing she's ever seen. She rubs the back of her hand on his cheek. "Hades…I – I understand why you did what you did."

He leans into her touch and holds the hand she has on his face. "You forgive me?" he asks.

She pulls him down to her and whispers in his ear, "Yes, Hades. I do forgive you."

"Thank yo-"She cuts him off with another kiss and his mind stops. Their kiss deepens once again and hands start their roaming.

It's been so long since he's been intimate that he almost doesn't stop her when she starts to rub her hands down his chest, removing the top layer of his robe.

Almost.

The dining hall, he remembers, is for dining – not for sleeping and most definitely not for coupling.

And, while his brothers Poseidon and Zeus didn't seem to care either way, Hades had a real problem with doing that sort of thing outside of being married.

This is not to say he hadn't had the occasional tryst with a nymph when he was younger, freshly out of Cronus's belly, wanting to see and experience the world. But he had been young then, genuinely young, and over the years he had learned that such activities only left him with a sense of hollowness and loneliness, especially after Calliope had died and he had tried to fill the void with mindless sex. That had only lasted about year, once he had found himself feeling even more miserable than before.

He lightly grabs her hands and regretfully breaks the kiss, resting his forehead on hers.

"Thank you," she says, "I wasn't thinking." He smirks. It looks like you didn't want to go any father either…

"Persephone, I-"

Hades is interrupted by a shade that walks in. Both their heads move up to look at the shade.

"My lord, your brother is here to speak with you."

Persephone gasps. "Father?!"

Hades frowns and narrows his eyes. "Which one?"

"The Earth-shaker, my lord."

Hades' frown grows deeper. "Poseidon... Where is he?"

"In the throne room, my lord. He has his trident with him."

Hades seethes. "That fool thinks he can bring his symbol of power into my realm and get away with it?!" He feels his side begin to burn.

Her hands touch his face and he starts. "Hades, you are the ruler here." She stares right into him. "Show him that."

He nods. "Would you like to come with me?" He's giving me a chance to leave, she realizes. Should I take it?

"Hades, I…"

"You want to go home."

She nods. "I do, but-"

He looks down at her, kisses her and takes her hand. "Let's go see what my brother wants."

At the back of his mind, Hades can hear Cronus laughing. You will lose her forever, Aideoneous. He grips her hand tighter. Not today, he thinks to himself. I will not lose her today.

A/N:

Heya there, gaize! I hope ya'll liked this chapter! Of course, more are on the way! :D Please leave reviews! I get motivation to get better and keep going from them, so thanks to all those who write them :D